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PAPERS AND DISCUSSIONS 


// 7 { 


AT THE 


JOINT CONVENTION OF THE MICHIGAN POLITICAL 
SCIENCE ASSOCIATION AND THE LEAGUE 
OF MICHIGAN MUNICIPALITIES 


FEBRUARY ELEVENTH AND TWELFTH 
NINETEEN HUNDRED AND FOUR 


ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN 


ANN ARBOR PLANT 
The Richmond & Backus Co., Printers 
1904 







2 ~ £ W 




INTRODUCTORY NOTE 



It is believed that the meeting reported in this 
volume was unique in the history of efforts to improve 
municipal conditions in the United States. There have 
been many meetings of associations of private citizens 
interested in municipal reform at which existing 
conditions have been described and often denounced, 
and plans have been proposed and discussed for securing 
a better state of affairs. There have been also meetings 
of leagues or other organizations of city officials for the 
consideration of the many problems of technical adminis¬ 
tration. But on this occasion, f6r perhaps the first time, 
these distinct factors were brought together in one con¬ 
vention. 

The audience included in the first place, officials of 
cities which are members of the League of Michigan 
Municipalities; in the second place, representatives of 
local organizations, such as the Detroit Municipal League, 
the Detroit Board of Commerce and the Civic Club of 
Grand Rapids, composed mainly of business men inter¬ 
ested primarily in the problems of their respective com¬ 
munities; and in the third place, members of the Michi¬ 
gan Political Science Association, who while not lacking 
in concern for practical questions, may be assumed to 
represent the more general and academic interest in the 
subject for discussion. 

In the list of speakers and the subjects for their 
addresses there will be observed a similar combination of 



iv MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION 

factors that have hitherto been kept apart. City officers 
and councilmen, public officials of higher rank and larger 
experience, and special students of particular problems 
joined in a programme representing different aspects of 
almost every phase of municipal government. From the 
table of contents it will be seen that the subjects discussed 
ranged from the methods of administration, through 
questions of policy as to the scope of municipal activity, 
and the structural organization of the municipality, to 
the processes of fundamental municipal legislation and 
the advantages of co-operative action through a league 
of cities. The list of subjects is far from including every 
municipal question; and perhaps on no single topic can 
the discussion be said to be complete. But typical ques¬ 
tions, illustrating the complexity of the municipal prob¬ 
lem, have been considered with care, and in a way that 
should throw light on their solution. 

Michigan conditions were the special subject of the 
meeting; and most of the addresses had these primarily 
in view. But there were several papers on matters in 
neighboring states, suggesting methods and ideas which 
might well be adopted, not only in Michigan but also in 
other states. Indeed all the subjects discussed were of 
more than local concern; and what was said should be 
of interest to municipal officials and students of munici¬ 
pal government throughout the United States. 

An examination of the papers and the discussions 
thereon will show, what might be expected from the 
character of the meeting, that on many questions differ¬ 
ent and even opposing views were presented by different 
speakers. And it is hardly necessary to say that, as each 


INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 


speaker had complete freedom in the expression of his 
own opinions, these opinions are not necessarily those 
of the organizations having the meeting in charge. In 
the same way, the two organizations preserved their 
mutual independence; and while the League of Michigan 
Municipalities adopted resolutions on some subjects, the 
Michigan Political Science Association maintained its 
policy not to bind its members on any specific question. 

One paper read at the meeting,—by Professor F. L. 
Sage, of the Department of Law, University of Michigan, 
on Some Legal Aspects of Special Assessments—has been 
published in the Michigan Law Review for March, 1904, 
and does not appear in this volume. Mr. Denman’s 
address on the Ohio Municipal Code has not been received, 
but may appear in a subsequent number of these 
publications. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 


MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP. 

Suggestions for and against Municipal Owner¬ 
ship of Public Utilities. C. A. Kent, Presi¬ 
dent of the Michigan Political Science Asso¬ 
ciation . i 

Discussion. 

Professor James Mavor, University of Toronto, 23 
F. F. Ingram, Detroit Public Lighting Com¬ 
mission. 32 

Wm Stocking, Detroit Board of Commerce.. 39 

Senator James E. Scripps, of Detroit. 39 

LEAGUES OF MUNICIPALITIES. 

Annual Address, John F. Bible, President of the 

League of Michigan Municipalities. 41 

Report of Secretary, John A. Fairlie. 57 

The League of Wisconsin Municipalities, Pro¬ 
fessor S. E. Sparling, Secretary. 60 

The Enforcement of the Criminal Laws of 
the State in Cities and Villages, Justice 
Claudius B. Grant, of the Supreme Court of 
the State of Michigan. 71 

MUNICIPAL LEGISLATION. 

The Legislature and Local Bills, David E. 
Heineman, member of the State Board of Lib¬ 
rary Commissions and the Common Council 

of Detroit. 85 

Discussion. 

By Senator James E. Scripps, Mayor E. R. 

Nellis and others. 95 

Municipal Home Rule; City Charters framed 
by Municipal Conventions, Delos F. Wilcox, 
Secretary of the Civic Club of Grand Rapids. 


97 












viii MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. 


Merit In Municipal Administration, Sherman 

D. Callender, of the Detroit Municipal League, 109 

Uniform Municipal accounting, Charles C. 
Brown, M. Am. S. C. E., editor of Municipal 


Engineering. 121 

Direct Primary Elections, Senator Charles C. 

Simons, of Detroit. 134 

MUNICIPAL PUBLIC WORKS. 

Public Works In Detroit, W. H. Maybury, 

Commissioner of Public Works. 145 

Sanitary Sewers in Small Cities, E. R. Nellis, 

Mayor of Wyandotte. 1 51 

Tar-Macadam Pavements, Dr. James W. Inches, 

Mayor of St. Clair. 160 


Discussion on Pavements, Sidewalks and Public 
Lighting, Mayor J. W. Inches, of St. Clair; 
Mayor Jacob Martin, of Monroe; President John 
F. Bible; Alderman E. N. Colby, of Ypsilanti; 
F. F. Ingram, of Detroit; Alderman George 
C. Hafford, of Albion; Mayor E. R. Nellis, 


of Wyandotte, and others. 170 

The Water Supply of Cities, Dr. V. C. Vaughan, 

Dean of the Department of Medicine and Sur¬ 
gery, University of Michigan. 175 

Discussion. 

Mayor J. W. Inches, of St. Clair. 180 

Some Requisites of a Good City Charter, Elvin 

Swarthout, Alderman of Grand Rapids. 182 











SUGGESTIONS FOR AND AGAINST MUNICIPAL 
OWNERSHIP OF PUBLIC UTILITIES. 


BY C. A. KENT, PRESIDENT OF THE MICHIGAN POLITICAL 
SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. 


The word utilities is the broadest possible. It covers 
everything useful of every kind. Public is vague. It does 
not necessarily include all the people, but only a consider¬ 
able portion. The discussion of the ownership of public 
utilities in this country, has been generally confined to 
utilities, tending to become monopolies, as where special 
rights in the public streets are necessary. But in England, 
such ownership has been extended beyond these limits. 
Ownership covers management, and the latter is much 
< more important and more objectionable. 

Municipal ownership is but a part of the larger ques¬ 
tion of Governmental ownership, and the latter depends 
on the proper sphere of government. The reasons which 
affect municipal ownership are largely the same which 
affect State ownership. In this view, the question is one 
of transcendent importance. It ought to be discussed in 
the light of reason, and so far as possible, without per¬ 
sonal prejudice. 

The proper limits of govermental power have been 
more discussed in the United States, than elsewhere. 
Here the powers of government, national, state and 
municipal, are determined by written laws, which are en¬ 
forced by the courts. Elsewhere the powers of national 
governments are determined generally by those in power, 
subject to such restraint as the public opinion of the time 
may exercise. It is hard to find in history any line divid- 




2 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION . [350] 

ing the things for which government has provided, from 
those left to individuals. Governments appear to have 
used all means in their power likely to accomplish their 
objects, which appeared to them for the good of their 
nations, or for the good of the governors. The founders 
of our national government were strongly impressed with 
the opinion that government though absolutely essential, 
has a tendency to excess, and corruption, and ought to be 
strictly limited to that which is essential. This opinion 
is shown in our national constitution, and in all the state 
constitutions. It appears also in the universal doctrine, 
that our municipalities have only such powers as have 
been granted by the various legislatures. 

If we look into the speculations of political philos¬ 
ophers, we shall find as little agreement as in the practice 
of nations. At one extreme are the views of the late Her¬ 
bert Spencer, who denies the wisdom of public education, 
the support of the poor, the power to wage offensive war 
and many things deemed essential to government, by the 
practice of all nations ancient and modern, and by the 
opinions of most wise men. At the other extreme are 
the Socialists, some of whom would have the State own 
all land, and all the capital employed in industrial pur¬ 
suits, and distribute the proceeds according to the neces¬ 
sities of individuals, without regard to their contributions 
to the joint product. Some political philosophers, not 
Socialists, feeling deeply the evils of society, would like 
to employ the great powers of government in carrying 
out their chosen schemes of reform. 

To-day there seems a general tendency to have gov¬ 
ernments of all kinds assume more enlarged powers. New 
Zealand is the Anglo-Saxon country, where the powers 
of the general government have been most widely ex¬ 
tended. The sphere of municipal governments has been 
more extended in Great Britain than in any other coun¬ 
try. Some municipalities there undertake to supply al- 


[ 351 ] 


MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP. 


3 


most all human wants, from the cradle to the grave. In 
the United States, the great mass of public utilities have 
been left to be supplied by private parties. But there is 
now a considerable tendency to the imitation of Great 
Britain, and there is a sharp discussion between the oppos¬ 
ing parties. 

My aim is to state fairly the chief arguments on both 
sides, and show only such conclusions as are reasonable, 
but I can hardly expect to free myself from prejudice, or 
to reach conclusions acceptable to those of opposing 
views. 

There are three classes of motives, which may lead to 
the municipal ownership of public utilities. 

1. This ownership is justified on the ground, that 
the municipalities can manage the business more econom¬ 
ically, than private persons, and that the saving thus 
effected, can be applied either to the reduction of taxes, 
or to the lessening of the cost to the consumer. 

2. It may be claimed, that a given utility is so essen¬ 
tial to the public good, that it must be had irrespective of 
cost, and that it is of such a kind, that private corpora¬ 
tions, whose aim is to make money, cannot be trusted to 
perform the service. 

3. Municipal ownership may be justified, irrespective 
of cost, on the ground, that cities will treat their work¬ 
men better than other employers of labor. 

Whatever may be the motive, municipal management 
is a business and subject to the ordinary laws of business. 
The comparison must be made between municipal man¬ 
agement, and that of private companies, regulated so far 
as is practicable by contract and municipal ordinance. 

It is plain, that in order to success any business, and 
especially any large business, intended to supply certain 
important wants of a great city, must be well managed. 
The buying, the employment of labor, the keeping up of 
the plant, and the bookkeeping are as necessary in city 


4 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION . [352] 

business, as in that of private companies, and success in 
both cases depends on the honesty, the capacity, the en¬ 
ergy and the economy with which the business is man¬ 
aged. 

In one respect public and private management will be 
alike. In both, fair competition in the chief public utili¬ 
ties will be impossible, and there will be a practical mon- 
oply. Where a special use of the streets is essential to 
a public business, competition in the same street becomes 
impracticable, and the advantage of a combination of all 
the street car interests, or all the gas interests of the same 
city are so obvious, that such combination is almost 
sure to result, whatever legal difficulties have to be over¬ 
come. And if a city undertakes municipal ownership of 
any part of a public utility, it will not stop short of the 
ownership of the whole. 

Whatever evils there are in monoply must be endured, 
whether the ownership is public or private. Perhaps the 
monoply established by a city will be more complete than 
that of any private company. It will be more favored by 
public opinion, and it may extend not merely to one indus¬ 
try, but to all the chief industries of a city. A great trust 
may be established by a city covering all trades in public 
utilities, and having most of those characteristics of 
trusts, which excite such denunciation in our newspapers, 
and party platforms. 

The chief advantages of municipal ownership as com¬ 
pared with private appear as follows: 

ist. The necessary monoply will be for the benefit of a 
city. Whatever profits are made will go either to the 
reduction of the price to consumers, or to the reduction 
of taxation. The great question here is, how far this 
profit may be secured by contract when private companies 
are first allowed to do business, or by regulation there¬ 
after. The contracts once made must be kept. When 
made for a term of years, which has expired, the city 


[ 353 ] 


MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP. 


5 


authorities have such power of regulation as may prevent 
the companies from making an excessive profit. But the 
cities have one great difficulty in making contracts for 
private management and in regulations, where the con¬ 
tracts have expired. The city officers do not understand 
the business. They compete with men who are experts. 
And such contracts and regulations are apt to become 
party questions. Many votes may depend on such ques¬ 
tions. The people generally are totally ignorant of the 
terms which the business can afford. They demand the 
rates most favorable to consumers, and men seeking office 
must obey their demands. Hence the greater danger of in¬ 
justice to private companies, which have once established 
their works in a city, and are seeking a renewal of their 
franchises. This injustice leads most naturally to bribery 
of city officials. The only remedy is the employment of 
honest experts possessing the public confidence, who can 
ascertain and declare the terms which a given business 
can afford. But the very best terms the city ought to get 
must leave some profit to a private company, above its 
interest and other expenses. This profit a city will get 
if it can run the business as well as the private company. 

2d. A city can build its works for all the future. It 
does not have to contemplate the expiration of its fran¬ 
chises, and so the return of its capital within a given 
period. If the business becomes increasingly profitable 
the city gets the benefit. If from time to time the works 
are kept in repair and improvements added as new inven¬ 
tions are made, there may never come a time when the 
capital invested will have to be considered lost. Some¬ 
thing of this advantage may be gained by wise contracts 
with private companies. But such contracts are difficult 
to make, because of the uncertainty of the future, and 
the ignorance of city officials. And if the city is to have 
the benefit of the growth of the city, and the business, it 
must also run the risk of loss, if the city does not grow as 


6 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION . [354] 

expected, or if new inventions require the throwing away 
of a costly plant. 

3d. The city can borrow money cheaper than a pri¬ 
vate corporation. This is because the company can mort¬ 
gage only its plant and business, whereas the city can 
pledge all the property of its citizens. It is more than 
doubtful whether the city could borrow as cheaply as 
the private company if it gave only the same security. 
When a city undertakes a great public work, the risk of 
a loss falls on its tax payers, and the business may be one 
in which many of them have no interest. Such risk ought 
not to be incurred, unless the prospect of profit is great, 
and then the tax payers who run the risk should partici¬ 
pate in the profit. 

4th. When a city sells a franchise, for a public utility, 
there is the greatest danger that the city officials will be 
bribed by the private company seeking the business. The 
public history of our own cities affords many examples of 
such bribery. The danger is real and very great, when¬ 
ever a public franchise is for sale. The question is 
whether city ownership will avoid this danger, or merely 
change the form of corruption. When a public fran¬ 
chise is to be sold, or renewed, the transaction is one 
of great importance, and the chances are that the atten¬ 
tion of the public will be fixed on it, and that officials 
who are bribed will receive public disgrace, if not prose¬ 
cution. When a city manages a great public work it must 
constantly buy material and hire and discharge men. 
Here are opportunities for fraud which will not attract 
public attention, but which corrupt aldermen will be sure 
to find, and the aggregate evil may be much greater than 
in the more conspicuous transactions of the sale of fran¬ 
chises. 

The tendency to municipal ownership does not depend 
on these arguments alone. Other considerations may 
have much influence. City officials have the same desire 


[ 355 ] 


MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP. 


7 


to extend their business, to magnify their employments, 
which is to be found among business men generally. 
However inadequately they may discharge their present 
duties, they are ready to enlarge them. They know, too, 
that the greater the number of city employees the greater 
is the political influence of those who control such em¬ 
ployment. 

Many persons have a prejudice against all private 
corporations, and especially against those enjoying public 
franchises, and they desire public ownership to do away 
with such corporations. Some moralists look on public 
ownership as a means of correcting the great inequality 
which exists in society. They hope such ownership will 
help the poor. Not a few think that they will receive 
personal benefit from such ownership. They will get 
thereby better opportunities for labor, or cheaper prices 
for municipal products. 

The chief advantages of private ownership, as com¬ 
pared with public, appear as follows: 

ist. Private management is better. It is governed 
by business principles, the desire to succeed, the desire to 
make money. Private management of public utilities is 
like the management of any other business equally great. 
The managers give it close attention. They select for 
superintendents and other officers men who have been 
trained in the business. They give them larger salaries 
than cities will pay, and situations dependent only on 
their success. These private officials employ laborers at 
the market price, and only with reference to their capac¬ 
ity. They buy in the cheapest markets, and on the best 
terms, unhampered by any of the red tape necessary in 
all government transactions. Knowing the business and 
future probabilities, they are able to decide rapidly, and 
act with decision, even as to the most important matters. 
As the men above them, the directors of the company, 


8 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION . [366] 

are intelligent, and intensely interested, there is little 
temptation to try and deceive them by false books or 
untrue inventories of the property. 

Compare with this the public management of such 
utilities. Political considerations enter into everything 
which is done. The public good is subordinated to that 
of a party, or of the individual office holder. Politics is 
a necessary occupation. The men engaged in it are of all 
degrees of ability and moral character. No one serves 
the State better than a politician of the highest class. We 
ought to be thankful to every such man who will seek 
office. But there are certain corrupting tendencies in 
political life which must be well considered by all who 
contemplate the enlargement of State action, municipal 
or national. Individuals in public life can seldom be 
independent. They must act with one of the great par¬ 
ties. These parties are formed on national issues, and 
yet they exercise a decisive control of most municipal 
questions. Foolish as this seems, its causes are too deep 
to be easily removed. The national organization is aided 
by the success of the party in a city. City offices are 
given as rewards to those who have worked for the party 
in national or State, as well as municipal elections. The 
more offices a party has to distribute to its workers, the 
more nearly complete will usually be the party organiza¬ 
tion. 

We have manhood suffrage. Many of the voters pay 
no taxes, many are foreigners of all the nationalities of 
Europe. They are often poor and ignorant, and yet their 
votes equal those of the wisest man. A candidate for 
office must seek these votes. He must appeal to their 
prejudices, or their interests. How can he reach them? 
Surely not by advocating an economical administration. 
He must promise them public employment, or perhaps 
cheaper rates for the utilities under the control of the city. 
And when elected he must fulfill these promises, however 


[ 357 ] 


MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP. 


9 


contrary to the general good. And city laborers will 
have to be paid more than others, because their votes give 
them a large influence. For the same reason the trade 
unions become a great power in politics, and few poli¬ 
ticians dare to resist their demands however unreason¬ 
able. The greater the number of employees of a city, 
the greater control the city official has over the vote. 
Control of a city vote through the city employments con¬ 
stitutes the chief power of the city boss, just as a like con¬ 
trol over State or national government employees makes 
the State or national boss. 

In arbitrary governments, the great bulwark of power 
is the military. Soldiers trained and armed are more 
than a match for many times the same number of civ¬ 
ilians. In republican government, having only small 
standing armies, the place of the military, as a support of 
those in power, is taken by government employees who 
spend much of the time paid for by the public in the party 
service, or in that of the leaders to whom they owe their 
positions. It cannot be expected that men elected to city 
offices with such a suffrage can be generally fitted for 
their positions, or even of good moral character. And the 
facts correspond with the expectation. The corruption of 
the aldermen of many of our great cities has been proven 
and is undisputed. And without doubt, the corruption is 
far greater than has been proven. 

Even if aldermen are honest and intelligent they have 
not the time to manage well great public utilities. They 
are largely occupied with looking to their constituents, 
so as to secure re-election. Then the necessary public bus¬ 
iness should occupy them fully. If they take on new bus¬ 
iness the old will be neglected. Their terms of office are 
short and uncertain. There is not usually a chance for 
any city official to develop an extensive plan of public 
improvement, and hope to have it carried into execution 
while in office. The evils which inhere in political man- 


10 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION . [358] 


agement of city matters have been sought to be corrected 
by removing the control of the chief branches of the pub¬ 
lic business from the aldermen and vesting it in commis¬ 
sioners, appointed by the mayor subject to confirmation 
by the council. In this way better men have been secured 
than could have been obtained by election. But even our 
commissioners are subject to political influence. They 
have been appointed because of their assistance to the 
mayor in his election, and they can scarcely avoid his 
influence and that of aldermen of their party in distribut¬ 
ing patronage. It has been said that a man who objects 
to an extension of municipal ownership, because of the 
bad conduct of city officials, is a pessimist, and distrusts 
the people. But such distrust is no new thing, and con¬ 
fined to no class. The advocates of municipal ownership 
assert as loudly as any one the corruption of the city 
councils and other officials. Distrust of the unrestrained 
action of the voters has been universal since the forma¬ 
tion of our nation. And it is shown in the national and 
State constitutions, and in every city charter. A test of 
the general confidence on the management of city officials 
would be this: Would any capitalist voluntarily put his 
money into any enterprise which they were to control, 
depending for his reward on the profits of such enter¬ 
prise. 

2d. Private corporations pay taxes. They are inter¬ 
ested with the tax-paying public. If they fail the burden 
falls not on the general tax payers, but on their stock¬ 
holders. Public ownership tends to an increase of tax¬ 
ation. 

The increase of taxation in all our great cities is an 
unfavorable sign. It tends to discourage the ownership of 
their own homes by the poor. Such ownership is a great 
security for public order, under manhood suffrage. The 
more city taxes are increased the fewer will be the num¬ 
ber of detached cottages owned by the poor, and the 


[359] 


MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP. 


11 


more they will be huddled into the great tenement houses 
common in Glasgow and some other great cities. 

3d. Again, public ownership tends to make the gov¬ 
ernment, all in all, the source of employment and distinc¬ 
tion and power. Private ownership tends to the develop¬ 
ment of individual enterprises, to opening fields of activ¬ 
ity not dependent on the State, to that liberty so dear to 
Anglo-Saxons. It is in accordance with one of the high¬ 
est instincts of our race, that of limiting all governments 
to a sphere where its action is necessary, and which can¬ 
not be safely left to the efforts of individuals regulated 
by law. 

What light can be gained on the profitableness of 
municipal ownership from the experience of cities which 
have tried it? The subject is one in which it is peculiarly 
difficult to ascertain the lessons of experience. Cities are 
very different in their management, and in their special 
advantages for doing business. The experience of one 
city is hardly a more certain guide to another than the 
success or failure of a private person is a guide to others, 
contemplating the same business. 

In the United States there is almost no municipal 
ownership undertaken for the sake of profit. There is 
no considerable ownership of public utilities, save water 
plants, and this ownership is justified on the ground of 
public health, without regard to profits. Almost all gas 
plants are owned by private companies. Only two cities 
of the first class, Chicago and Detroit, own electric plants. 
The street railroads are all owned by private companies, 
with one insignificant exception. 1 

Evidently not much is to be learned from municipal 
ownership in this country. Its advocates rely on the ex¬ 
perience of Great Britain. There municipal ownership 
of public utilities has been extensive and long continued. 


Municipal affairs, Vol. VI, No. 4, p. 5 2 4- 



12 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [ 360 ] 


But there is still in England the sharpest conflict as to its 
merits, a conflict which I cannot decide. The latest 
authority is a book on Municipal Trade, by Major Leon¬ 
ard Darwin, son of the celebrated Charles Darwin, pub¬ 
lished in 1903. The book bears evidence on the part of 
the author of a patience and fairness, like that of his 
father. The conclusions are on the whole unfavorable to 
municipal trade or ownership. If it were otherwise, if 
there was a general agreement that such trade has been a 
great success in Great Britain, it would be more than 
doubtful whether we should follow her example. The 
greatest drawback here, the political control of all munic¬ 
ipal employments, does not exist there. In Great Britain 
the municipal councillors are a high grade of men, who 
usually remain in office, without a struggle, as long as 
they desire. They are free from corruption. They give 
their services to their cities without pecuniary reward. 

The second motive for municipal ownership refers to 
industries which are essential to the public good, and 
must be maintained whether pecuniarily profitable or not, 
and which cannot be safely trusted to private corpora¬ 
tions, whose great aim is to make money. It can hardly 
be questioned that every government, national, State and 
municipal, has departments which cannot be left to pri¬ 
vate contract. The United States cannot provide for the 
national defense by contracting with private companies 
for the furnishing of a sufficient army and navy. Michi¬ 
gan cannot well leave the support of its schools, or the 
enforcement of its criminal law to private contractors. 
Public health requires that Detroit control its sewers and 
perhaps its water supply. In such matters the public 
officials being undeterred by the cost will more readily 
respond to the necessities which may arise. No very 
clear line can be drawn between matters which must be 
managed by the public, and those which can safely be left 


[361] 


MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP. 


13 


to private contract, but still the distinction is of some use, 
and the first inquiry as to any extension of municipal 
ownership is whether it concerns a service which can be 
adequately performed by a private company. 

The third motive suggested for municipal ownership 
is that municipalities will treat their workmen better than 
private companies, and so improve the condition of the 
poor. This motive is often avowed and justified. And it 
is probably the strongest ground on which municipal 
ownership appeals to the mass of the voters. The popu¬ 
lar strength of this motive constitutes the main ground 
on which it is supported by politicians, whose business 
requires them to watch the breezes of popular favor, and 
regulate their sails accordingly. It is natural and not 
specially reprehensible that the poor should advocate what 
appears for their interest. Parties in power have gener¬ 
ally done this. The richer classes have usually controlled 
government. They have often been unjust to their inferi¬ 
ors. Now that under manhood suffrage the power is in 
the majority, it is to be expected that their interests will 
be chiefly consulted. 

Is it for the good of the majority that municipal 
ownership and control should be extended, not for the 
sake of cheaper or better service, but with the object of 
giving to the poor more of the products of industry? 
This question cannot be properly discussed with refer¬ 
ence to municipalities alone. It belongs to the broadest 
sphere of government. 

Let us glance at a few of the leading facts of the 
social and political life in this country, and see if existing 
evils can be thus remedied. Individuals are born with 
almost an infinite variety of capacities and dispositions. 
Each has the liberty of freely using all his powers to 
attain any object not forbidden by law. Men of great 
pecuniary skill and fortune obtain great wealth. Others 


14 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [ 362 ] 


through lack of ability, of energy, or of fortune, remain 
all their lives in poverty. The law gives great privileges 
to all. It freely gives equal police protection, the use of 
roads and parks and the advantages of the common 
schools without price. It makes sure that the poorest 
shall not starve, or suffer from want of fuel or clothing, 
or shelter, by furnishing these things to all who will show 
their need. These things are supplied by government by 
taxes assessed on those who have property, and in pro¬ 
portion to their wealth. Large charities freely established 
by rich people supplement government aid to the poor. 
No caste keeps any man from rising to the highest posi¬ 
tions. The children of the rich have better advantages 
of education and inherit the property of their parents. 
To give them these advantages is one of the greatest 
motives of those who struggle to acquire property. But 
with these advantages they have many extraordinary 
temptations, which when yielded to, make their lives the 
greatest of failures. Moralists, who brood over the evils 
of society, would do well to dwell on the great good 
which exists, and the complicated, but natural forces 
which bring it about. How wonderful that great cities, 
which may not at any time have a week’s supply of fuel 
and provisions, are yet supported by that marvelous ex¬ 
change of products between city and country going on 
all the time, almost without the aid of human law. How 
wonderful that such a variety of workers,—physical, in¬ 
tellectual, moral, artistic—can find a market for their 
products? How wonderful that one living in any civil¬ 
ized state can exchange his labor without leaving his 
home, for the products of the remotest countries. One 
who would radically change the mechanism of the great 
machine of society needs to look well to his work lest 
he do much more evil than good. 

One great complaint frequently heard, is that so many 
men have their millions and that such multitudes have 


[ 363 ] 


MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP. 


15 


nothing. How do men get rich ? One who will look can 
easily see. Our greatest fortunes have generally grown 
from nothing. The poor man destined to wealth must 
have an inheritance of health, ability and energy. He 
begins by working for others. He saves his earnings and 
becomes an employer. He extends his business more and 
more widely. He enters into new and vaster enterprises. 
He manufactures, he buys and sells. He builds steam¬ 
ships, railroads and great stores in our cities. At every 
step of his progress he risks the loss of his savings. At 
every step he employs laborers and gives them their price. 
At what stage in the process of getting rich is injury 
done to society? It is said that fortunes are acquired by 
fraud. If this is so stringent laws, which courts and 
juries are ever ready to enforce, constitute the remedy. 
But the honest acquisition of wealth is a constant blessing, 
and the use of wealth is also a blessing. The rich cannot 
consume their wealth, or take it with them when they 
die. They can only use it through the employment of 
labor. Every dollar spent is paid to some one in return 
for labor. It is said that greater wages ought to be paid 
workmen. There is no possible standard to determine 
what any laborer from the highest to the lowest ought 
to receive except the market rate, which comes from the 
fierce competition of business. And if any employer, 
having no monopoly, pays much above the market rate 
his failure is inevitable. 

If employers could be persuaded to divide all the re¬ 
turn from their capital and supervision, among their 
laborers, it would not be for the public good. Many of 
the laborers would squander the increase on luxuries 
or vice, or perhaps would work less time. There 
would be no capital to make good the depreciation of 
ships, railroads, factories and other instruments needed 
to make labor profitable. Taxation on property would 
be useless, as the property would soon become worthless. 


16 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [ 364 ] 


The great charities now supported by the rich would 
be likely to fail. There would be no money to invest 
in new and untried enterprises. The struggle for wealth 
seems often to be based on illusion. Why should a man 
seek for accumulations which neither he nor his family 
can ever use ? But there can be no question that the habit 
which leads men to save, even to extreme old age, is 
often, perhaps generally, useful to society. 

The poverty of multitudes is indeed a great evil. If 
there is any remedy in legislation it should be used. But 
the causes of poverty should be carefully examined. 
Many are poor because born with weak constitutions phy¬ 
sically and mentally. Many more from a vicious educa¬ 
tion. What can be done by the State to remedy these 
things should be done. But it should never be forgotten 
that in this country, at least, the great cause of pov¬ 
erty is a willingness to be content with a bare subsistence, 
and an unwillingness to save even for this. What is the 
cause of the poverty of the blacks in our Southern States ? 
Mainly, their willingness to remain poor, their willing¬ 
ness to suffer rather than work. Perhaps the exact state¬ 
ment is that they do not have the wants of civilized peo¬ 
ple. The remedy is to awaken these wants and so stimu¬ 
late them to labor. What is true of the negro is true also 
of vast numbers in our great cities. They, too, need an 
increase of wants and an increase of thrift. For the 
mass of the poor the only real help is the instilling of 
civilized wants, and the industry and thrift which will 
lead to their gratification. 

A great complaint against society is found in the 
fierce competition for business and for employment, 
everywhere visible. This competition sometimes brings 
down wages to the starving point. The great justifica¬ 
tion of labor unions is that, individually, each laborer is 
helpless and must submit to receive only what his em¬ 
ployer will give. And business men are often forced into 


[ 365 ] 


MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP. 


17 


bankruptcy by competition, perhaps of the most unscrup¬ 
ulous kind. But great as are these evils, I know not what 
can take its place. How but by competition is the nat¬ 
ural laziness of most men to be overcome ? How else are 
the wages of different classes, or of individuals in each 
class to be determined? Competition has always been 
the great reliance of the common law to keep prices at a 
just equality. And statutes, perhaps of every State and 
of the United States, have made illegal all combinations 
to keep up prices of goods or of transportation. And 
combinations which under the name of trusts are so com¬ 
mon, are constantly denounced in all our newspapers and 
by all political parties. But our laws aided by public 
opinion seem to have no great effect. It is in the very 
nature of excessive competition to lead to combination, 
wherever the latter is possible. Competing parties will 
not long do business at a loss, when they may make 
money by combining legally or illegally. 

And when the trusts become too profitable there are 
developed competing organizations. Business seems 
doomed to vibrate between the evils of too great compe¬ 
tition and those of excessive combination. Both compe¬ 
tition and combination are necessary and neither can long 
hold the field alone. Whatever the laws can do towards 
regulating the evils of each should be done, but experi¬ 
ence does not lead to much hope from law. 

In what way can the extension of government owner¬ 
ship and control over industries now in private hands ben¬ 
efit the poor? Socialism, the ownership of the land and 
productive capital by the State, and the distribution of the 
product to individuals, according to their needs, and not 
according to their contributions, appear to me not merely 
impracticable, but unthinkable. And yet it is often dis¬ 
cussed by able men as though it were possible. In order 
to improve the economical condition of society, it is nec¬ 
essary that the product of his industries should be in- 


18 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [ 366 ] 


creased in amount or better distributed. In order to 
increase the amount men must work harder for the State 
than they do for themselves, or their labor must be better 
directed. That men should work harder for the State 
than they do for themselves, when their living depends on 
the result, requires a devotion to the public good, which 
history shows to be quite foreign to human nature. For 
two thousand years Christianity has preached doctrines 
of unselfishness and devotion to others with compara¬ 
tively little effect. And Christianity has appealed to the 
most transcendent motives, in the love of God, and a 
future heaven. 

How can Socialism with its appeal only to material 
earthly motives hope to succeed better ? It is conceivable 
that society might be so organized that the waste now 
suffered from excessive competition might be saved, and 
so the same labor produce more products. But what hope 
is there that society can find and choose a man or men 
gifted with the power of foreseeing human wants, and 
so adapting products to the demand? And what arbi¬ 
trary despots must such men be? They would have to 
tell every man what to do and how long to work. Men 
would not endure such complete control even from the 
wisest. It is in the distribution of the joint products of 
industry that Socialism becomes most unthinkable. 
Among whom should the joint product be distributed? 
Among all the people of the nation, of the State, of the 
municipality, or among the members of the class engaged 
in the same work? If the divisions are small, then the 
divisions must trade with each other, and on what terms ? 
If the divisions are national, then there must be exchange 
with other nations. At what time of the year must such 
divisions be made? Prior to the divisions, how could the 
laborers and their families live? What would prevent 
one family from being in want before the next distribu¬ 
tion? And if this or any other country should support 


[ 367 ] 


MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP. 


19 


all residents, irrespective of their work, what would pre¬ 
vent such country from being speedily flooded with the 
poor and helpless of all nations? What in a socialistic 
state would prevent that rapid increase of population, 
which always occurs, when the restraints of want are 
removed from the poor ? I know no answer to those and 
many like questions. 

But though the extreme of Socialism is unthinkable, 
it is quite possible to increase materially the sphere of 
government, national and municipal. Our question must 
be considered with reference to such practicable increase. 
The wages of those working for the government will be 
likely to be greater than those paid by private employers. 
This will be thought a benefit to them, but such benefit 
may be counterbalanced by the insecurity of the employ¬ 
ment and the political services and subserviency required. 
If, however, the increase of wages is such as to constitute 
a real advantage, then by so much, laborers for the public 
will have a preference over private laborers, which per¬ 
haps no one will contend to be for the public good. If 
the sphere of government is extended so as to include 
manufacturing and mercantile business, it is important 
to consider on whom will fall the increase of wages. 
The increase must lead to an increase of prices of the 
products, unless the public management is much better 
than private, something very improbable, or the goods 
are sold at a loss, and the deficiency is made up by tax¬ 
ation. I have heretofore pointed out one of the evils of 
such increased taxation in discouraging the attempts of 
the poor to acquire homes. 

There is a limit to the amount which can be raised 
by taxation. Those who pay must always be able to live 
out of the proceeds of their property or labor, and taxes 
must be paid out of their surplus. Taxation may easily 
reach the point where there is no such surplus, or none 
which may not be hid. Direct taxation can only be en- 


20 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION [ 368 ] 


forced by sale of the property of the delinquent, but sell¬ 
ing implies buying, and there will be no buyers for prop¬ 
erty which does not produce a profit above the taxes. 
The State of Michigan has lost millions of dollars because 
it could not sell certain lands for the amount of the tax. 
And in our great cities there is much property which is 
valuable only because there are rich men able to use it. 
The great dwelling houses of the rich are almost worth¬ 
less to other classes. If a serious decrease in the numbers 
of rich occurs, such houses become of little value. If an 
increase of wages results in an increase of prices, this 
falls on the consumers, and as the great majority of con¬ 
sumers are laborers they must pay it. Here is a point 
often overlooked. The public sometimes appear to think 
that an increase of wages will be paid by capitalists out of 
their profits or out of their other property. They cannot 
do this to any considerable extent. And so far as they 
do it there must be a reduction in the amounts they use 
in living expenses, or in enlargement of their facilities 
for business, or in new enterprises, that is, they must take 
the increase given to one class of laborers away from 
other classes. It ought never to be forgotten that contests 
as to wages are in their result contests between different 
classes of laborers. If the wages of one class are in¬ 
creased, it must be at the expense of the consumers, that 
is generally at the expense of other laborers. And taxes 
paid decrease the amount which the tax payers can spend 
in other ways, that is among laborers. 

Would the enormous fortunes, which seem to some 
an evil, be reduced by an increase of government owner¬ 
ship and control? So far as such fortunes are acquired 
by monopolies in public franchises, public ownership 
would take them away. But few, if any, of our multi¬ 
millionaires have secured their fortunes in this way. So 
far as the sphere of government extends, so far it must 
restrict private business and so the acquisition of for- 


[ 369 ] 


MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP. 


21 


tunes. But in order that the accumulation of fortunes 
should be prevented, public business must be made to 
cover all the great variety of interests, where skill and 
good fortune enable men to accumulate wealth, or else 
taxation must be so increased that there will be no ade¬ 
quate motive to seek riches. The rich may be destroyed 
in either of these ways, but in their destruction society 
may receive a blow fatal to economical prosperity. 

Will State ownership prevent the destructive effects 
of competition ? So far as it does this, its results will be 
like those of the great trusts of our day. If business of 
one kind in a State or nation is under one control, whether 
State or private, such a business will have no competition 
in its purchases or sales, unless from foreigners. But 
such a consolidation is scarcely conceivable of the great 
body of industries. How, for example, could the farmers 
in different parts of a State or nation make a successful 
combination? So far as such combinations can be ef¬ 
fected, they will have every evil of the great trusts. The 
managers of government organizations are chosen in a 
different way from those of private trusts, but when once 
chosen their authority must be as absolute. The larger 
an organization is the fewer must be the governors, and 
the more absolute must be their power. The greatest 
example of complete organization is an army with its 
military law, and absolute subjection to one will. The 
labor unions sometimes afford instances where the sub¬ 
jection of the individuals to the leaders is almost like that 
of an army. If the evils of competition are to be de¬ 
stroyed by State ownership there will succeed the slavery 
of great organizations. And such organizations sus¬ 
tained by government will leave no room for that rise of 
new competing organizations, which now constitutes our 
chief hope in breaking the power of the trusts. 

And however trusts, public or private, may suceed in 
abolishing competition for the sale of goods, I do not see 


22 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [ 370 ] 


how they can affect the competition for employment. 
Wherever there are more men seeking a given kind of 
work than there is work to be done, this, the worst form 
of competition, must continue. 

My conclusions are: 

ist. That the old Anglo-Saxon tendency to restrict 
the power of government, as far as is consistent with the 
public good, should be continued. 

2d. That where public wants may be fairly supplied 
by private persons, such supply should be left to them, 
and the government should protect itself by contract and 
regulation. 

3d. That all attempts of government to interfere with 
the natural law by which individuals are rewarded ac¬ 
cording to their industry and ability, should be confined 
to charities given to the destitute, and utilities bestowed 
on all alike. 

4th. That our present work in cities should be de¬ 
voted to the purification of our politics, the deliverance 
of municipal business from the control of national poli- 
tice, and the thorough study of municipal questions 
economically and morally. 


DISCUSSION. 


PROFESSOR JAMES MAVOR, OF THE UNIVERSITY OF 
TORONTO. 


Any concrete case of projected municipal ownership 
may be looked at from three different points of view at 
least. 

We may look at it from the point of view of politics, 
from which may be estimated the effect of the project 
upon the interests of political parties, and also the effect 
of it upon the political development of the city or State. 
Or we may look at it from the economic point of view, 
from which may be estimated the extent to which the pro¬ 
jected ownership would be an economic advantage or 
disadvantage, in brief, how much it would cost the city, 
and how much the city would get for it in tangible and 
in intangible returns. Or we might look at it from a 
point of view which is neither specifically political nor 
specifically economical, but which may be described as 
being sentimental or impulsive, from which point of view 
it might be decided to support a project of municipal 
ownership, on the ground that the public utility which it 
was proposed to own had been exercised by, for example, 
an alien company, which had rendered what its critics 
regarded as an indifferent service, and extorted an 
excessive amount of payment for it. The question as to 
whether or not it would remunerate the city to render the 
service on its own account, from such a point of view, is 
not important. The view is that the service must be 
taken out of the hands of the company, even if the trans¬ 
action should result in a pecuniary loss. This point of 




24 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION . [ 372 ] 

view is one with which any of us might on occasion sym¬ 
pathize, but one cannot discuss it apart from a concrete 
case, and one can apply to it no principle excepting the 
general one, that it is usually unwise for a community to 
allow itself to be stampeded. 

There thus remain the two first mentioned points of 
view—the political and the economic. 

A. From the political point of view there is the 
consideration that any extension of the public authority 
involves the diminution of private freedom, and there¬ 
fore of individual initiative. The vast agricultural and 
industrial development of the United States has been 
accomplished practically wholly by spontaneous individ¬ 
ual, or by spontaneous corporate action. 

The compulsory powers of Federal, State or munic¬ 
ipal authority have rarely been exercised in the industrial 
field, and when they have been exercised, it has been 
attempted rather to regulate than to organize. There is 
much to be said for the argument that safety lies that 
way. 

There are undeniable dangers in the unrestricted pur¬ 
suit of private gain. This unrestricted pursuit becomes 
apparently more dangerous when it is accomplished by 
means of associations of persons, formed for the pur¬ 
pose of securing larger aggregate gains by spontaneous 
corporate action than could be obtained by the members 
of the group individually. This effective corporate action 
is alleged to imply the exploitation of individuals, and 
through that the monopolization of natural resources. 

Yet legislation against combinations, whether of 
labor or of capital, has usually been ineffectual. Where 
it has appeared to be effectual it has often really had the 
result of lulling the people to sleep, while exploitation 
goes on more actively than before. 

Political and social forces, unimpeded by legislation, 
may probably be counted upon to prevent undue exploita- 


[ 373 ] 


MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP. 


25 


tion of private persons, and to prevent it more effectually 
than legislation specially devised for the purpose. 

All combinations, compulsory or spontaneous, have 
to experience, sooner or later, indisputable limitations 
not imposed by legislative enactment, but nevertheless 
quite irresistable. Again and again combinations have 
met their debacle from the neglected element. 

From the political point of view also, there are the 
serious considerations which are excited by the unfortu¬ 
nate fact, that municipal administration is inextricably 
intermingled with party politics, State and Federal, with 
the result of gross abuse of the powers of patronage and, 
in certain notorious cases, the more or less wholesale rob¬ 
bery of the people for the purpose of assisting a particu¬ 
lar political party to get or retain power. The additional 
amount of patronage which municipal ownership would 
entail must necessarily increase the dangers from these 
sources, and the additional amount which would require 
to be borrowed and which would require to be raised by 
taxation and expended, would afford additional possibili¬ 
ties for the exercise of the nefarious trade of the 
“boodler.” 

It seems no reasonable answer to fears of this kind 
that the increased responsibilities would bring increased 
virtue and conscientiousness. That is a hypothesis which 
seems to be contradicted by facts and experience. 

B. From the economic point of view, the following 
considerations may be suggested : 

i. The adoption of municipal ownership causes, 
for so much as it amounts to, an increase in the public 
finances. It produces an increase of the area of gov- 
ermental or compulsory finance, and correspondingly 
diminishes the area of private finance. In the event of 
the ownership being accompanied by net pecuniary loss, 
that loss will require to be met by taxation, that is, by a 
compulsory contribution to the public powers from the 


26 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [374J 

private pocket. Moreover, in diminishing, as it must, 
the area of possible action by private initiative, as indi¬ 
cated above, it tends to destroy private initiative and to 
produce a state of the public mind in which the commu¬ 
nity is regarded as a universal provider. This state of 
mind is up to a certain point inevitable in countries where 
the accumulation of private capital proceeds slowly, and 
where enterprises that seem indispensable to municipal 
progress are undertaken by compulsory action, because 
private initiative does not exist on an adequate scale; but 
it is a dangerous state of mind to cultivate. It tends 
almost inevitably toward petty political chicanery, and to 
the wholesale purchase of constituencies by the party in 
power. It is not realized that every draft upon the public 
purse is sooner or later a draft upon the private purse of 
the citizens. There are numerous instances of municipal¬ 
ities being urged by enthusiasts into undertakings which 
have been burdens to them, even although some benefits 
may have accrued. There are, for example, the case of 
Cincinnati and the Southern Railway, Baltimore and the 
Western Maryland, the small City of Wheeling and its 
railway bonds, and Philadelphia and its gas works. It 
was assumed that the enterprises were necessary. Pri¬ 
vate enterprise was at the time too feeble, and under pres¬ 
sure of enthusiasts the public found itself impelled to 
enter upon them. So also institutions which in well- 
established communities are supported by private endow¬ 
ment or subscription—as hospitals, refuges and the like 
—are in less well-established communities wholly or par¬ 
tially provided out of the tax revenue. There is a wide¬ 
spread illusion that the quickest and easiest, though in 
the long run it is the most expensive way, to have any 
improvement effected, is for the public authority to do it. 
This course appears to cost nobody anything. 

The practice of drawing on the public authority for 
money and services, probably in the beginning necessary, 


[ 375 ] 


MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP. 


27 


becomes a fixed passion, and the public purse comes to 
be looked upon as a pocket from which inexhaustible sup¬ 
plies are to be drawn. 

The public authorities are approved by large sections 
of the community in proportion as they yield to their 
demands upon the public purse. Deputations wait upon 
the members of the municipal administrations who have 
charge of the finances, and demand subventions for this 
and that institution; for this and that monument; for this 
and that movement, and the like, and an administration is 
very unpopular which refuses to grant at least some of 
these demands. 

2. There is also the consideration that the exercise 
of the compulsory powers of the municipality stultifies 
private initiative, and thus tends to diminish the total 
of production? 

Under a system of complete municipal Socialism, the 
distribution of wealth might conceivably approach equal¬ 
ity, but would there be an increasing quantity of goods 
to distribute, in the absence of spontaneous organization 
of production? 

3. The area of indisputably advantageous municipal 
ownership is comparatively small, it may, indeed, per¬ 
haps be regarded as confined to the ownership of those 
utilities which make directly for the public health, that is 
to say, for those utilities which are directly hygienic in 
their character, such for example, as streets of adequate 
width and proper paving, parks, sewage, collection of 
rubbish, and perhaps water supply. After these services 
are performed, then we may regard the extension of 
municipal activities as coming fairly within the field of 
discussion, but not till then. 

In England, for example, the central authority, in 
this case the Local Government Board, prevents the em¬ 
barkation upon any scheme by a municipality which has 
not provided the rudimentary utilities. For cities in the 


28 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [376] 

United States or in Canada to embark in expensive scien¬ 
tific enterprises, such as electric lighting, while the streets 
are unpaved or badly paved, 1 while so-called grade cross¬ 
ings endanger life, 2 and while the streets and alley-ways 
are the breeding-places of disease, 3 while the sewage sys¬ 
tem is defective 4 or where the water supply is inadequate, 5 
seems, on the face of it, a futile proceeding. 

New municipalities are anxious to emulate rapidly the 
older cities, where the slowly accumulated results of cen¬ 
turies of labor constitutes an inheritance which can only 
be rivaled at immense cost to the generation that attempts 
the rivalry. 

4. While many of the criticisms which may be urged 
against the extension of municipal activity into the indus¬ 
trial field, apply with equal force to municipal activity in 
Europe as well as in America, there are certain notice¬ 
able differences in conditions which must be taken into 
account. On the continent of Europe the Central Gov¬ 
ernment exercises a very stringent (perhaps too strin¬ 
gent) control over the municipalities. During the eight¬ 
eenth and nineteenth centuries, local self-government was 
seriously diminished, in France especially in the eight¬ 
eenth century, and in Germany in the nineteenth; in 
Great Britain local self-government was invaded in the 
nineteenth century, but later has been to some extent rees¬ 
tablished. Thus, on the Continent, the municipality finds 
its policy largely prescribed for it. In Great Britain the 
municipal government is in very many cities in the hands 
of the same persons who constitute the boards of direct¬ 
ors of companies, or who are otherwise in the daily habit 
of transacting business on a large scale. It is therefore 


*As in Chicago and St. Louis. 

2 As in many Eastern cities. 

3 As in Chicago. 

4 As in Baltimore. 

“As in Cincinnati. 



[ 377 ] 


MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP. 


29 


not unreasonable to expect them to manage the city 
finances and the administration of the public utilities with 
the same skill and interest which they throw into their 
private affairs. If one glances at the names of members 
of the Town Councils of Glasgow or Birmingham, for 
example, one finds those of leading business men in both 
cities. 

This is the reason that the people have been willing 
to entrust them with large enterprises. The tradition of 
personal honesty which for many years has attached itself 
to the councils of the larger cities, the definite exclusion 
of general party politics, the disinterested character of 
the members (except so far as public reputation is con¬ 
cerned—they are not paid as in the United States and 
Canada), and the practically complete absence of patron¬ 
age (so far as the councillors are concerned) combine to 
make possible the extension of municipal activities into 
fields that could not without grave risks be occupied by 
municipalities, either in the United States or in Canada, 
under present conditions. 

5. In the present state of municipal and company 
accounting it is impossible, and in any conceivable state 
of accounting, it would be difficult to make precise com¬ 
parisons between the cost to the public of municipal and 
joint stock supply of public services. 

It is therefore not surprising to have the most diver¬ 
gent inferences from the available data. We are driven 
to estimate the probabilities rather than the actual state 
of the case. 

(a.) If a municipality is in a position to borrow 
money at a lower rate than a joint stock company, it 
is because its tangible property affords a relatively more 
ample security than the property of the joint stock com¬ 
pany. The risk to the lender is less in one case than in 
the other; but the risk of the enterprise is the same. The 
borrower, in one case the joint stock company, is obliged 


30 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. 1378] 


to pay in the interest payment for a risk which the prop¬ 
erty does not enable it to carry on its own account; in the 
other case, the municipality takes at least a part of the 
risk on its own shoulders. Its relatively ample property 
enables it to do so; but the difference between the inter¬ 
est paid by it and the interest that would be paid were 
the money to be borrowed by a joint stock company is 
not gain, it is an insurance premium on a risk taken by 
the municipality, and it should be dealt with as such 1 . 

Apart from the question whether the public author¬ 
ities are entitled to embark on speculative enterprises 
with the funds of the public, there is to be considered the 
effect upon the borrowing powers of the municipalities, 
of incidental additions to their debts, caused by embarka¬ 
tion on public service enterprises. 

If a municipality borrows even for productive pur¬ 
poses large sums every year or two, its securities are apt 
to clog the market, and however high the city may stand 
financially, it may be difficult on occasion to negotiate its 
securities. Even national governments find these diffi¬ 
culties at times. A distributed load is generally preferred 
to a concentrated one. The equilibrium is more stable. 

The presumption is that the more a city borrows in 
proportion to the total taxable value of the property of 
the citizens, the higher rates, other things being equal, 
will the city have to pay ultimately on the whole of its 
debt. 

If loans are contracted with specific liens upon par¬ 
ticular productive enterprises, they will be effected at a 
higher rate of interest than would be the case otherwise; 
because the margin of value for risk is less. 

So far as interest on borrowed capital is concerned, 


‘The question of risk has been fully discussed by Major Darwin in his 
remarkable book on Municipal Trading. 



[ 379 ] 


MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP. 


31 


it is thus not clear that the municipality has any advan¬ 
tage over the privately organized joint stock company. 

(b.) The management by municipalities of depart¬ 
ments of public service, if it is efficient, is not likely to cost 
less, and is rather likely to cost more than a similar serv¬ 
ice otherwise rendered. 

In most municipal enterprises, even perhaps in the 
longest established and best of them, there is a disposi¬ 
tion on the one hand to pay relatively high wages to the 
manual laborers and relatively low salaries to the man¬ 
agers. The results are apt to be inefficient management 
and excess in the number of employees; the high wages 
and exceptional conditions of employment attracting 
many who would other wise seek employment elsewhere. 

The municipal enterprise thus becomes saddled with 
costs for service to which joint stock management is not 
open. 

Inquiry into municipal enterprises has in every case 
confirmed the general inference that municipal manage¬ 
ment is more expensive than private. The higher wages 
offered by advocates of municipal ownership must be rep¬ 
resented by higher cost to the tax payers. 

6 . I have hitherto considered municipal ownership 
and operation of public services without discriminating 
between them. 

There are many cases in which municipal ownership 
with private operation is preferable to any other form. 
Nevertheless many of the considerations which apply to 
municipal operation apply also to municipal ownership. 
The political features are apt to be alike in both cases. 

Some of the financial features are also alike, but legal 
conditions may be such as to make ownership by the 
municipality or the State a great advantage in preventing 
disputes as to the use of streets. 

Ownership, however, implies responsibility. If we 
have the ownership vested in one body and the executive 


32 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [380] 

in another, we have at least one check upon the actions 
of either. If ownership and executive are combined, and 
still more, if we add to these functions that of operation, 
we have no check excepting the indefinite and spasmodic 
check of public opinion, and the unseen though irresist¬ 
ible economic forces which sometimes engulf us before 
we are aware. 


F. F. INGRAM, OF THE DETROIT PUBLIC LIGHTING 
COMMISSION. 

Public business should be carried on by the public. 

Private business should be performed by the private 
citizens or corporations. 

Those are public utilities which require governmental 
functions in their operation. The question is, Shall the 
people permit their government to part with and lose con¬ 
trol of its own functions by transferring them to private 
corporations. 

The public streets and highways in a free country 
must be equally free to all. Such freedom disappears 
when exclusive rights or privileges in them are given to 
private corporations. We then have taxation without 
representation in its most harmful form. In People 
against Brooklyn, 1 Judge Ruggles, referring to turnpike 
roads, said, “The money paid for their construction and 
maintenance is reimbursed by means of tolls. Tolls are 
delegated taxation.” 

History, past and present, teaches us that corruption, 
imbecility and weakness by the government,—contempt 
and resentment towards it by the public, is the inevitable 
consequence of putting into private hands the privilege 
to collect taxes from the people. Rome’s decay began 
when the privilege of collecting taxes was given away or 


*4 New York Court of Appeals Reports 431. 




[ 381 ] 


MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP. 


33 


sold to the highest bidder. The bidders were corpora¬ 
tions ; the contracts were franchises. The amount of the 
bid went to the public treasury. The franchise holder 
got the rest. Monstrous fortunes on the one hand—a 
debased, impoverished and degenerated people on the 
other,— were the results. 

The plundering of the French by the infamous 
“Farmers-General”—private tax collectors—was one of 
the principal causes of the French Revolution. As Vol¬ 
taire has said, “They drew millions from the people and 
give a little to the king.” 

As for modern instances, we have but to turn to the 
history of the English cities, when the public utilities 
were in the hands of private corporations, to find similar 
municipal corruption, and to the shameful, degrading 
conditions that prevail in Philadelphia, St. Louis, New 
York, and many other American cities. The English 
progressives have reformed their city governments, and 
made office-holding in them respectable. They did so 
by restoring the public utilities to the public. In private 
hands there, as here, public utilities were used to corrupt 
the officials and to defraud the people. 

The remedy, and the only remedy here, as there, is 
municipal ownership and operation. 

Mr. Kent has no great objection to municipal owner¬ 
ship if leases are made to, and operation done by a private 
corporation. 

Under that plan the city would furnish its funds as 
well as delegate its functions to a private corporation. 
Such a plan is the only one yet discovered that is worse 
than private ownership of public utilities, for the public 
then must suffer not only all the ills of private monopoly, 
but furnish the funds used for their own exploitation. 

They have tried it in Toronto, which city owns and 
leases to a private corporation its railway system. This 
private corporation, it seems, is just as much interested 


34 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [ 382 ] 


in owning the City Council that grants leases as other 
corporations are in owning city councils that grant fran¬ 
chises, as witness the following from last Sunday’s De¬ 
troit News-Tribune: 

TORONTO SCANDAL. 

"city of the good” trots grand rapids merry pace. 

INVESTIGATION IMPLICATES TWENTY-TWO OFFICIALS. 

WHOLESALE CORRUPTION AT ELECTIONS. 

Toronto Street Railway and Gas Company, Bidders for 
Franchises, ’Tis Claimed, Particularly Active in Ad¬ 
vocacy of Certain Aldermen. 

“For some years this city has been referred to as ‘Toronto 
the Good/ but the recent civic revelations have demonstrated that 
‘she is not any better than she ought to be/ Already n officials 
have been committed for trial for glaring ballot stuffing, and whole¬ 
sale corruption; and from present indications this list will be trebled 
before the investigation which has just been instituted is concluded. 
Those implicated are men in the employ of the Toronto Street Rail¬ 
way Co., the Gas Company, and the several pavement companies, 
who are struggling for contracts, and who have their representa¬ 
tives in the lobbies of the City Hall. Aldermanic candidates favor¬ 
able to the companies have used their influence to have their hench¬ 
men appointed as returning officers and poll clerks, and these men 
have for years been stuffing the ballot boxes. 

“The Street Railway Company and the Gas Company hold their 
franchises from the city, and there is a well-founded suspicion that 
their advocacy of certain aldermen has not been altogether dis¬ 
interested.” 

Mr. Kent says there are certain public utilities that 
the public could properly leave to private corporations. 
These are fire protection, education, and health. 

The operation of these services does not adapt itself 
to the exploitation of the people, therefore, those who 
seek to get something for nothing pass them by. 

Would it not be more natural, if any exception is 
made, to except from private ownership those utilities 
that in private hands naturally, and almost inevitably, 


[383] MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP. 35 

lead to exploitation, that give their owners power to tax ? 

Mr. Kent assures us that the employees of private cor¬ 
porations are hired only because of their ability to bring 
results, and infers that such employees, if under municipal 
ownership, would be hired to carry caucuses. I will make 
no comment on such a statement, except to refer to the 
actual conditions. 

Prosecutor Folk of St. Louis has shown us that the 
aldermen in the combine received regular salaries from 
the street car companies four times as large as the wages 
of conductors, and in addition got rake-offs from other 
public service companies, amounting to $20,000 apiece. 
They also named men for the street car jobs. Their cau¬ 
cus and precinct workers were paid with such jobs, the 
aldermen having a vested right in the street car jobs; 
the railway company a vested right in the aldermen. 

It is not necessary to particularize farther. Wher¬ 
ever in an American city popular government is dead, 
machine rule supreme, where the citizen and property 
owner has relaxed and given up the struggle in utter 
hoplessness and despair, there will you find these corpora¬ 
tions in possession of the public utilities, public officials 
their mere tools, elections and campaigns only a pretense, 
the people completely out of touch with public affairs, 
and utterly without influence in them. 

Mr. Kent says we should beware of anything that 
tends to raise taxation, so as to prevent the poor man 
from owning a home, and so do I. 

In 1899 the Detroit street car owners proposed to 
sell their property to the city for $17,000,000. Mr. Kent 
opposed the proposition, and so did I; and for the same 
reason,—that it was confessedly twice what the property 
was worth. It was not right, we contended, to compel 
the poor man or poor woman to pay twice on the invest¬ 
ment, once for the ride and again for the water. They 
must use the cars, therefore, they cannot escape this ex- 


36 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [384] 

tortion, this tax. Well, the plan fell through, but the 
tax survived; and the poor man that Mr. Kent cham¬ 
pions, is still paying that tax, and an added tax, for the 
capitalization is now $35,000,000, and instead of six 
tickets for a quarter we must pay five-cent fares, as we 
did twenty-five years ago, although the actual cost of 
operation has been reduced by one-half. 

The poor man of Detroit is having the clothes taxed 
off his back and the food taxed off his plate by the 
owners of public services,—the Gas, Electric Light, and 
Street Railway Companies. 

Mr. Kent claims that municipal ownership would in¬ 
crease the burdens of public debt. 

The public must pay interest on the investment when 
they pay for the service whoever owns it. With munici¬ 
pal ownership they pay interest only on the actual invest¬ 
ment, and at a lower rate. Is there a pretense that the 
stock and bonds of the public utility companies represent 
only actual investment? and is it better for the public to 
pay from 6 to 20 per cent, interest on watered stock than 
3 per cent, on the cost of plant ? 

Mr. Kent says the rates charged by a private com¬ 
pany can be regulated. He did not cite, however, any 
instances where an attempt at regulation has succeeded. 
Since 1798, when the then political boss, Aaron Burr, by 
the aid of Tammany, secured a public utility franchise in 
New York, to the present day, municipalities have tried 
in vain to control private corporations and to regulate 
the rates they charge. 

Does the City of Detroit control the Street Car Com¬ 
pany? Are we not all now trembling in our boots for 
fear that by some hook or crook they will get an exten¬ 
sion of their present franchises? If fear or patriotism 
stands in their way at home, will they not get it by con¬ 
trolling the State Legislature and secure their graft, in 
spite of the faithfulness of our city officials? Did any- 


[385] 


MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP. 


37 


one ever hear of a street car company getting off the 
streets or meeting the desires of the public because their 
franchise had expired? Rather, are they not feared and 
justly, even though they have no franchise? But with 
a franchise, its provisions subject to interpretation by 
courts (which, to say the least, have the corporate point 
of view), they are certainly masters of the situation. 

Under the Charter, the Detroit Gas Company is to 
charge 90 cents for illuminating gas when the output 
reaches a certain figure. It passed that figure two years 
ago, but we must still pay more than 90 cents, because 
some of us burn illuminating gas for fuel. 

It is the same as if a lumber dealer should offer a 
rebate on the price of flooring if 100,000 feet were taken, 
but refused to allow the rebate because some people used 
flooring in partitions. The courts would make short 
work of the lumber dealer’s contention; they look at it 
differently for a gas company. 

They have recently had an election in New York City. 
The reform government of Mayor Low, though backed 
by the progressive citizens and the Republican organiza¬ 
tion, was turned out of office. Why? Let one of them 
answer. 

John Martin, a member of the New York Reform 
Club, and editor of the magazine, “Municipal Affairs,” 
in a recent article, amongst other things, said: 

“Worst of all, the owners of street railways, gas and 
electric lighting plants, elevated railroads, and other 
monopolies, have resented the efforts of the Low admin¬ 
istration to compel them to pay their taxes and to return 
to the public a fair equivalent for the new privileges they 
have acquired. Millions and millions have been taken 
from the city in the past by these bandits of the aristoc¬ 
racy. They have secured their privileges from corrupt 
governments on the promise of their tiny annual dues, 
not a tithe of what the privileges are worth; and yet they 


38 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [ 386 ] 


have steadily evaded even these peppercorn payments. 
Mr. Low’s law official, a man of Tory descent and 
instincts, but a believer in the eighth commandment, 
brought them sharply to book. He has secured judg¬ 
ments against them which mean the payment by them of 
$3,000,000, or thereabouts, and he has numerous other 
cases in the courts. These highly-placed scoundrels like 
not this treatment, and they have supplied a rich election 
fund to Tammany, without which it could not have won 
this fight.” 

Gentlemen, this granting of special privileges to pri¬ 
vate corporations is building up in our cities a class dis¬ 
tinction. 

On the one hand, restive, ground down by the exces¬ 
sive taxes that, under the pretense of rates and charges, 
are imposed upon them by the privileged corporations, 
the great exploited masses are losing their stake in the 
country, are losing their homes; in many American cities 
90 per cent, of the families are homeless. 

On the other hand, are the beneficiaries of franchise 
grants possessed with greater fortunes than the skilled 
mechanic or plain merchant can acquire by hard work in 
a thousand years. They display their unearned wealth 
by indulgence in extraordinary dissipations and benevo¬ 
lences. They are patronizing to the masses. They are 
condescending to the courts of justice. 

The masses are learning to hate; the ultra-rich are 
beginning to despise. 

We must have a square deal, or eventually,—and per¬ 
haps the crisis is not so far away—there will be put one 
alternative; either the red flag of Socialism or the man 
on horseback, representing an oligarchy of bandits. 


[ 387 ] MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP. 39 

WM. STOCKING, OF THE DETROIT BOARD OF COMMERCE. 

Detroit has been mentioned in Mr. Kent’s paper as 
one of the cities having municipal ownership of public 
lighting. The Annual Reports of the Detroit Public 
Lighting Commission shows that since the installation 
of this municipal system, there has been a decrease in 
cost as compared with the private contract system. I had 
occasion to prepare a paper a short time ago, comparing 
the cost of electric lighting in the city of Detroit under 
the municipal ownership system, and the cities of Buf¬ 
falo, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, and Pittsburg under the con¬ 
tract system. These cities were taken because their pop¬ 
ulations are not widely diversified. They all have a 
population of three to four hundred thousand, and areas 
between twenty-nine and forty-two square miles. The 
cost in Detroit per candle power in street lighting was 
3.9 cents, in Cincinnati, 4.7 cents; in Milwaukee, 6.3 
cents; in Buffalo, 6.5 cents; in Pittsburg, 6.9. And if 
area is taken into consideration the cost per square mile 
is much less in Detroit than in any other city, and less 
than one-half that in Pittsburg. 


SENATOR JAMES E. SCRIPPS. 

I want to call attention to an omission which it seems 
to me the President of the Political Science Association 
made. I do not think he made the proper distinction 
between private corporations which can carry on their 
operations independent of any public franchise, and those 
which are dependent wholly upon the franchise for their 
operation. As was suggested by Dr. Vaughan, the munic¬ 
ipality should control the distribution of drinking water. 
If that drinking water is distributed in pots and cans it is 
one thing, and if the water is distributed through pipes 
laid in the public streets, it seems to me, that it is quite 
another. We are all agreed that the public should do 



40 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [ 388 ] 


nothing that can be done by a private enterprise. But 
we have cases where public property is to be used, where 
public streets are to be used and occupied, and that seems 
to me to be a very different case, and cannot be put upon 
the same footing as enterprises which may be conducted 
independently of a franchise. 

When I first went to Detroit, some years ago, the 
Common Council granted permission to a certain railway 
company to run its tracks down a certain street in order 
to reach its terminals. The track was laid and the street 
was left open to the public, but gradually the company 
closed the street. Opposition was made to it, and the 
question was brought up in the Common Council. And 
the situation has now come about that the railway com¬ 
pany absolutely owns that street in fee simple. The 
Supreme Court has decided its ownership. I cannot see 
why all of our streets are not in danger of becoming 
private rights of way in the course of time. It is simply 
an analagous case. I believe that the property should 
belong to the city, and should be as absolutely under its 
control as the asphalt or brick which compose the surface 
of the street. 


ANNUAL ADDRESS. 


BY JOHN F. BIBLE, PRESIDENT OF THE LEAGUE OF 
MICHIGAN MUNICIPALITIES. 


The League of Michigan Municipalities, its objects 
and purposes, is the topic upon which I will briefly 
address you. 

To education and unity of purpose we owe our pro¬ 
gress and civilization. Take a child born of our best 
educated parentage and raise him away from civilization, 
among savages and cannibals, and he will grow up a sav¬ 
age and a cannibal, because of his environment. Man 
alone is the most helpless of all the creatures of the Great 
God. Place him alone in the deep forest, away from all 
other human beings, and he cannot so much as clothe 
himself. The fleet-footed deer will bound away from 
him, the squirrel will playfully climb the tree to perfect 
safety, and the birds will mock him with their warbling 
songs in the boughs above. He is alone and absolutely 
helpless, compelled to live entirely on vegetation or 
starve. But man combined and organized can hew down 
the forest and convert it into meadows;—he can erect 
cities, construct railways, organize governments, and 
throw around him the luxuries a merciful God intended 
for all civilized human beings. In all the history of the 
world, there was but one man who disclaimed absolutely 
being his brother’s keeper, and that was Cain, who slew 
his own brother, rather than see him enjoy the blessings 
that were intended for both; and, as a result, a mark was 
placed upon Cain’s brow, that he might be known and 




42 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [ 390 ] 

shunned even by strangers in strange lands. The whistl¬ 
ing of the wind and the singing of the birds, which were 
sweet music to all others, were to him but a shrieking 
reproach for the crime he had committed, which was 
prompted by selfishness. 

This is truly an age of brotherhood, and the man who 
fails to recognize that he is his brother’s keeper is a men¬ 
ace to society and civilization. No man can educate him¬ 
self in seclusion. The word “bright” originally had no 
significance when applied to mankind. It merely meant 
a substance which had been polished by having all the 
roughness rubbed off. To-day we speak properly of 
bright men, which means men who have become polished 
in manners, education and civilization, by having the 
roughness rubbed off by having rubbed up against their 
fellow-men. We owe our progress, education and civili¬ 
zation not to one generation or to one century, but to the 
history and experience of mankind for six thousand 
years. We have made greater progress during the last 
century than during the preceding one, and during the 
last generation than any preceding generation; and that 
has been accomplished by each man teaching his neighbor, 
—by one municipality learning by the experience of 
another, by one state profiting by the experience of other 
states, and by one nation studying the progress of all 
other nations. China has made less progress than any 
of the other nations, because it has lived within itself, 
surrounded by the great Chinese wall, which hedged it 
about, breaking, as it were, every wave of progress and 
civilization which attempted to waft its way toward the 
Orient. The Chinese not only refused to seek the benefit 
of the experience of other nations, but they hid them¬ 
selves, as it were, behind a wall, and refused to admit the 
entrance of what was gratuitously offered for their wel¬ 
fare and well-being. 

Our modern civilization had its incipiency in the 


[ 391 ] LEAGUE OF MICHIGAN MUNICIPALITIES . 


43 


Netherlands, in that brave and courageous little Holland, 
from which it found its way to England, and from Eng¬ 
land it spread in every direction, like the waves from a 
pebble dropped into the ocean; and we Americans think 
it has reached nearest perfection on the Western Con¬ 
tinent, and that it is our duty to spread it to the four 
winds of the world, to blast out and break down Chinese 
walls of obstruction, whether built of stone, or of ignor¬ 
ance and prejudice, and this can be done only by organi¬ 
zation and unity of purpose. No city or municipality is 
great of itself, but because of its alliance with and inter¬ 
est in others striving for the same end. We say New 
York is a great city—no one denies it—we are proud of 
it; but to what does it owe its greatness? To other mu¬ 
nicipalities, not alone in America, but in the whole world. 
We say we have the greatetst country and the best gov¬ 
ernment upon which the Great God ever smiled, and we 
say rightly, but from whence came it? Shall we say 
from Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, Madison, Mon¬ 
roe, Webster, Clay, Jackson, Lincoln, Grant, or the 
lamented McKinley? Nay, not so; they were but cogs 
in the great wheel of progress, using the forces which had 
been transmitted to them by preceding and contempor¬ 
aneous generations. 

Why has old Spain retrograded instead of progressed ? 
Because she failed to recognize the fundamental prin¬ 
ciples of progress and refused to profit by the experience 
of other nations. She encouraged ignorance and graft 
instead of promoting education and honesty, until every 
department of her government was honeycombed with 
ignorance and corruption, from the most insignificant 
consul to the very throne itself. She had no leagues for 
teaching better government. She taught her people that 
all principles of government must emanate from the 
throne, rather than that the people should study govern¬ 
mental problems and be able to instruct the throne. In 


44 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION [ 392 ] 


other words, this nation decayed because she feared 
rather than encouraged education among its masses. 
Under such circumstances, decay was inevitable. The 
brotherhood of man had no significance. The only unity 
of purpose seemed to be that which holds together thieves, 
robbers and anarchists, a brotherhood of plunder, a 
brotherhood of destruction, a brotherhood to tear down 
everything of a progressive nature and to propagate dis¬ 
honesty. We are taught in the Scriptures that “No man 
liveth unto himself, neither dieth unto himself’’; so I 
would say that no nation, no state, no municipality can 
live successfully without co-operating with other nations, 
states or municipalities, and learning from their experi¬ 
ence ; and upon this doctrine was founded the League of 
Michigan Municipalities. 

One learned anatomist once said that if the brains of 
the fool and the wise man were put upon the scales and 
weighed, or under the microscope and examined, but lit¬ 
tle, if any, difference would be discovered. He said the 
essential difference was that the wise man culled among 
his thoughts and used only the best, while the fool spoke 
or acted upon every impulse of his brain, regardless of 
fitness or adaptation. 

The object of this League is to examine the govern¬ 
ments and methods of municipalities, not alone of Michi¬ 
gan or of America, but of the whole civilized world, and 
to cull out, as far as possible, the bad laws and incorrect 
methods and give to our membership the advantage of 
those best adapted to our progress and well-being. This 
could not be done by one municipality, but by joining 
forces we can through our organization collect informa¬ 
tion beneficial to all. Any one who will take the time to 
examine into even the municipalities of our own State 
will be appalled at the results of his investigations. He 
will find a wide variation in the cost to the people of every 
class of work with which our municipalities must deal, 


[ 393 ] LEAGUE OF MICHIGAN MUNICIPALITIES. 45 


under the very same conditions. He will find that the 
cost of cement sidewalks vary from 7 to 14 cents per 
square foot; the same class of paving varies from $1.10 
to $2.50 per square yard; and arc lights range in cost 
from $45.00 to $90.00 per year; and so on with every¬ 
thing else. To what is all this to be attributed? Are we 
to believe that it can all be attributed to graft? Nay, 
not so. It is due in many cases to the ignorance of those 
officers who must deal with these questions. I do not 
mean that the officials are necessarily ignorant men in 
the general acceptation of the term. They may be col¬ 
lege bred and well informed on all general matters. They 
may be, indeed, often are, successful business men; but 
they have not made a study of municipal government, 
and are, therefore, ignorant of what prices should be paid. 
But so far as the people are concerned, who must pay the 
taxes, the result is the same, except from a moral stand¬ 
point, whether it be due to ignorance or graft. 

Let me illustrate: I will say that one of our munici¬ 
palities desires to spend $500,000 in street paving. It 
has an honest set of officials, no one questions their integ¬ 
rity. Its chief executive is a man who is regarded by his 
people as possessing extraordinary sagacity and intelli¬ 
gence. He has been successful in his own affairs. His 
constituents have demanded this public improvement, and 
he was elected upon a pledge to see that it is done. He 
recommends in a formal way that the pledge be fulfilled, 
and the Council approves his recommendations and make 
the necessary appropriation. He familiarizes himself with 
the requirements of his Charter in such matters and ad¬ 
vertises for bids in accordance therewith. The expen¬ 
diture is to be large, and a few shrewd contractors who, 
as a rule, are men possessing extraordinary judgment, 
are attracted thereby. They size up the situation. They 
know the Mayor is an honest man, and that he is sur¬ 
rounded by an honest Council; but they also know that 


46 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [ 394 ] 


these officials are not posted either as to the cost which 
should be paid or as to the quality of the work to be done. 
These contractors put heads together and bid, I will say, 
$2.70, $2.75 and $2.80 per square yard for this work, 
which should be done for $1.50 at the outside. The bids 
are opened in accordance with the requirements of the 
law, and the contract is awarded to the lowest bidder, 
and the people have been mulcted $1.20 per square yard, 
or have had to pay 80 per cent, more than they should 
pay; and yet these officials have been absolutely honest, 
and not one dollar of their constituents’ money has stuck 
to their own hands. 

Now, this is not an overdrawn case at all. These 
wide variations actually exist in the municipalities in our 
own State, and the integrity of many of the officials is 
so well established that it can only be attributed to their 
lack of knowledge regarding the cost of the work to be 
done. That the grafter is nearly everywhere to be found 
in politics we must all admit, humiliating though it may 
be. We are appalled when we find the grafter sneaking 
into almost every department of our government, from 
the school trustee, who must purchase the books for our 
children, almost to the very center of our national gov¬ 
ernment. Where is the remedy ? It is in just such meet¬ 
ings and Leagues as this, where we can get and tabulate 
the information necessary to prevent honest officials from 
permitting their people to be plundered. We cannot 
change the grafter, but we can make his work more haz¬ 
ardous. We cannot put honesty into the grafters’ hearts, 
neither can we put knowledge into the heads of officials 
who will not learn; but we can give to those municipali¬ 
ties which have progressive representatives, the experi¬ 
ence of those municipalities which have been most suc¬ 
cessful, and have rendered their constituents the best 
service at the least possible cost. 


[ 395 ] LEAGUE OF MICHIGAN MUNICIPALITIES. 47 

I remember well a little thing that occurred when I 
was a country school teacher. In co-partnership with a 
man named Cook, I taught a large country school, and 
at the close of the term Mr. Cook, being a better collector 
than I, went out to collect the tuition bills. One man, 
who had sent two children during the entire term, refused 
absolutely to pay anything, and gave as his reason there¬ 
for, that his children had not made any progress during 
the term. Mr. Cook explained that they had been given 
the same opportunities that had been given to all others, 
that no partiality had been shown. But the man was 
obdurate, and said he would not pay for something which 
had resulted in no benefit to his children. Mr. Cook, 
being a very erratic and impulsive man, frankly admitted 
that the children had made no progress, and exclaimed, 
“My God, man, you don’t suppose that Bible and I could 
manufacture brains and put them into the heads of those 
brainless kids, do you?” 

We cannot teach those who will not learn. We can¬ 
not reform the grafters. We cannot benefit those munic¬ 
ipalities which place barbed wire fences around them¬ 
selves, which imagine that their government cannot be 
bettered, and are too selfish to desire others to benefit by 
their own imaginary perfection. If their governments 
are so good that they need no improvements, they should 
be sufficiently imbued with the principles of altruism to 
join our League and come here and tell us that they have 
reached the millennium in municipal government. We 
need the membership of those municipalities where mu¬ 
nicipal practice has reached perfection—if there be such 
—as badly as those which are yet crude in their methods 
need us. Some municipalities have refused to join be¬ 
cause of the nominal membership fee. I think this is 
“penny wise and pound foolish.” The information that 
is collected and distributed by this League will pay ioo 
to 1,000 per cent, dividends on the membership fee to 


48 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [ 396 ] 


every municipality which will absorb and use the infor¬ 
mation at their command. 

At this time I want to proclaim my approval of munic¬ 
ipal ownership of all public and quasi-public utilities, such 
as lighting, water, heating, street railways, etc. I want 
further to proclaim my approval of the system known 
as the initiative and referendum. And my reason par¬ 
ticularly or primarily for endorsing these fundamental 
principles of democratic government is that the people 
themselves, when governmental responsibility is placed 
more directly upon them, will become better posted, bet¬ 
ter educated and more duly qualified to pass judgment 
upon governmental problems and upon the qualifications 
of men seeking office. No man can become a successful 
professor in our University without having the experi¬ 
ence and responsibility of actual teaching. He could sit 
in his office or in his home and read all the teachings and 
learned discourses of our able and beloved President 
Angell; but to be a successful instructor, he must actu¬ 
ally have had the responsibility of instructing. And so 
it is with government. If the people are to become effi¬ 
cient in matters of government, whether municipal, state 
or national, they must actually participate in the forma¬ 
tion of governmental policies and feel the responsibility 
resting upon them. The hope and pride of a democracy 
is in the intelligence of its masses. No democracy can 
permanently endure unless the fundamental principles of 
government emanate from the masses of the people. We 
must not do as did old Spain, of which I have already 
spoken, and seek to keep our masses in ignorance; but 
we must offer every possible inducement and encourage¬ 
ment for a better understanding of everything pertaining 
to governmental policies. And the only way a man can 
become the best type of citizen, and become thoroughly 
posted upon every question with which he must deal, 
directly or indirectly, is by actual participation in decid- 


[ 397 ] LEAGUE OF MICHIGAN MUNICIPALITIES. 


49 


ing questions of a governmental nature. We should en¬ 
courage the people to go into the governing business, for 
herein lies the hope of the perpetuity of our national exis¬ 
tence. 

I want further to proclaim my approval of the per 
diem system in municipal government. That is, I believe 
all public improvements should be made under the direc¬ 
tion of the municipality, instead of farming them out to 
contractors. I endorse this for two reasons: First, the 
work can be done by the municipality better and at a less 
cost to the tax payers; and second, the principal source 
of corruption in municipal affairs occurs in the awarding 
of contracts. I know there are to be found in this coun¬ 
try many aristocrats who fear the masses; and when any 
man expresses sympathy for those who earn their bread 
by the sweat of their brows, he is too often slurringly 
referred to as a Socialist or a Populist. Less than a 
quarter of a century ago the Mayor of any municipality 
who was sufficiently in advance of the time in which he 
lived as to advocate municipal ownership, was ridiculed 
by the “holier than thou” class, and was regarded as un¬ 
safe for public trust. Any man who advocated the initia¬ 
tive and referendum was a Socialist run mad. But how 
is it to-day ? Scarcely a public official in any of our cities, 
great or small, who would dare come out in the open 
against these fundamental principles of democratic gov¬ 
ernment. All political economists of note now every¬ 
where admit their advisability. From what source sprang 
these elementary thoughts? From the plutocrats and 
aristocrats who fear the masses? Nay, not so. They 
sprang from the thinking masses, from which source has 
originated every important reform since the world began. 
These reforms must of necessity spring from the people 
themselves, and they will continue to do so as long as 
time lasts. So the better educated the masses become, 
and the better they understand all questions with which 


50 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [ 398 ] 


our government must deal, the better government we will 
have. 

Every man posted on American politics believes that 
political parties are a necessity, because political parties 
are simply organizations of men of concerted political 
views, and these views can be crystalized into law only 
by organization of those holding them. But, on the other 
hand, no sane man believes that all the good is to be 
found in any one party, and the best type of citizens will 
always place honesty and intelligence above party alle¬ 
giance ; and we must all remember that the grafter knows 
no politics. The grafter is in politics for graft, just as 
the thief steals plunder or as the murderer spills human 
blood to satisy the longings of a depraved heart. 

The great majority of men in all parties are honest, 
and desire that which points in the direction of better 
government, but many permit the veil of partisanship to 
obscure their vision, and often good men are turned down 
and grafters elected by appealing to party prejudice. As 
the people become better educated and better posted on 
governmental matters, it will be harder for the profes¬ 
sional politician and ward heeler to fool them. Honest 
nominations, made by the voters themselves, and honest 
elections are just as necessary to good and economical 
government as sunshine is to the growth of vegetation. 
I am, therefore, in favor of placing the responsibility of 
nominations upon those who must cast the votes at the 
regular elections, and this can be done by what is known 
as a primary election law. 

I have not time on this occasion to give my views in 
full regarding a primary election law; but, briefly, I 
would state that a primary election law should be enacted 
requiring all political parties to make their nominations 
at the same time, and on a fixed date, to be prescribed by 
law. Such nominations should be made by direct secret 
ballots of qualified electors; and such election should be 


[ 399 ] LEAGUE OF MICHIGAN MUNICIPALITIES. 51 


held in the same manner, and safeguarded by the same 
legal protection, as regular or general elections. I would 
go further and make a man ineligible to vote in the reg¬ 
ular election who did not vote at the primary. This 
would insure a full vote at the nominating primary. I 
would have all nominations from the Governor down 
made at the primary elections. Even this would not 
bring a political millennium; but it would be a long step 
in the right direction, and would prevent the disgraceful 
manipulation of caucuses and conventions which has 
humiliated the honest electors of our commonwealth in 
the recent past. 

I was an eye witness a few years ago to a most humil¬ 
iating scene on the main street of my home city. There 
was a spirited contest in my county for the gubernatorial 
nomination. Each candidate had his manager, with a 
barrel, and coin was being distributed freely to any par¬ 
ties who would attend the caucuses, regardless of political 
faith. One of these political caucus managers and boodle 
distributors had imbibed too freely, and his legs were 
wobbly and his nerves unsteady, and in attempting to put 
a handful of the filthy lucre into a voter’s coat pocket, he 
missed his aim and good American dollars went rolling 
in every direction, on the sidewalk, and there was a 
scramble to get them by these assembled purchasable 
electors, each, of course, being entitled to his “pick-up.” 
Certainly a most humiliating and disgraceful scene to 
take place in a public place on the main thoroughfare of 
one of the best municipalities in our beloved common¬ 
wealth. Such scenes cause honest citizens to bow their 
heads in shame, yet they are the inevitable outcome of 
the caucus system when there is a spirited rivalry for a 
high office between men of almost unlimited means. A 
primary election law is demanded by the masses of all 
parties, and as I have previously explained, all reforms 


52 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [ 400 ] 


worth the name have ever come, and will continue to 
come from the masses. 

I long and look forward to the time when every offi¬ 
cial position, it matters not how insignificant, will be 
regarded as an honorable trust. Why is it to-day, that in 
many of our so-called best municipalities, that an aider- 
man is looked upon with suspicion, rather than as a man 
of honor holding an honorable position ? Is it not humil¬ 
iating in the extreme when such responsible positions are 
scorned rather than honored and respected ? Everywhere 
the statement is made that good men will not seek or ac¬ 
cept municipal offices because it makes them the target 
for suspicion, abuse and distrust; and yet, the bulk of all 
taxes collected in America are expended in our munici¬ 
palities, and those aldermen, who are regarded with so 
much suspicion and distrust, must supervise these expen¬ 
ditures. And what is true of our aldermen, seems even 
more so with our representatives in the Legislatures and 
Senates. Once it was a high honor to represent a legis¬ 
lative or senatorial district. How is it to-day? Do not 
the people at large look upon these bodies rather with 
shame and humiliation instead of a commendable pride. 
I see before me several men who have had experience, and 
for their benefit I will recite a little poem, and if it does 
not apply to them, they need not take it to heart: 

I can’t imagine what pa’s done, but it’s something bad I s’pose; 

I’ve asked my teacher ’bout it but she says ’at no one knows. 

An’ pa he seems so worrited, an’ anxious like an’ blue. 

He’s got ma frettin’ also, an’ I don’t know what t’ do. 

Pa’s alius been real good t’ me, but ’long since early fall 
He’s had no time t’ spend with me an’ ain’t ben home at all. 

I ast ma what the matter wus with pa an’ she replied, 

“Yer pa’s been nominated,” an’ I just set down and cried. 

Why wus pa nominated? That’s what I want to know. 

Jack Tones he said ’twas politics, but I know that ain’t so. 

I bet some other fellow has gone an’ broke a law 

An’ then turned ’round just like a snitch an’ swore it wus my pa. 

But anyhow pa’s worrited an’ stays out late at night, 

An’ says he’s got to do it ’cause he’s fightin’ f’r th’ right. 

Ned Smith he said they’d send my pa t’ legislative hall 
’Nd I just smashed him on th’ jaw—you bet I made him squall. 


[401] LEAGUE OF MICHIGAN MUNICIPALITIES. 53 

I ain’t a goin’ back on pa,, no matter what he’s done. 

An’ in his day of trouble he can count upon his son. 

If th’ legislature gits him you bet without a doubt 

I’ll be right there t’ greet him when th’ keeper lets him out. 

An’ pa an’ me we’ll hold our heads as high as other men. 

An’ pa he'll show th’ world that he’s a honest man again. 

But I’m so sorry f’r my ma, it’s awful tough on her— 

Pa’s goin’ t’ legislature an’ she don’t know what it’s f’r. 

Gentlemen, it is a deplorable state of affairs when any 
public office, however insignificant, is not held as an 
honor. The school trustee, the supervisor, the justice of 
the peace, the alderman, the representaive in the Legisla¬ 
ture, the State senator, should be as zealous of his integ¬ 
rity and the esteem in which he is held by his constitu¬ 
ents as should the Chief Executive of this great nation. 
I speak to-day for a greater reverence for places of public 
trust. I speak for a broader conception of civic affairs. 
I speak for a broader intelligence, for a closer brother¬ 
hood. We must not set ourselves, either, as a “holier 
than thou.” If we would teach, we must be practical, and 
must not stand upon the top of the church steeple; but 
we must be down among the throng. Let our lights so 
shine that men will see our good works and emulate our 
examples. The man who places a barbed wire fence 
around himself will soon possess a heart of stone,—will 
hate, and be hated by the ever-pressing throng. 

Local pride is always commendable, and while we are 
each proud of our local cities, we must co-operate with 
our sister municipalities, realizing that none are so good 
but what they may become better. As a rule, a man who 
never divulges intelligence or information possesses but 
little of either. Our methods of communication make it 
possible for us to know to-day what occurred yesterday 
throughout the whole civilized world. This makes every 
man, in a way, a neighbor of every other man, and his 
responsibilities are, therefore, greatly increased over those 
pioneers who settled in a wilderness and hewed down 
the forests. Then men had but few neighbors and knew 


54 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [402J 


but little about what was going on in the world at large. 
But it is not so to-day. Every city is a neighbor of every 
other city; every nation is a neighbor of every other 
nation, and should act in a neighborly way. A spirit of 
reciprocity is that of brotherhood in tangible form; and 
the principle of brotherhood is the fundamental and co¬ 
hesive principle of our national civilization. 

I know that there are well-meaning citizens who say 
that we must build a Chinese wall around our borders and 
live within ourselves, that America is great enough and 
powerful enough to stand alone and fight her own battles 
in war and in commerce. This she could do, but in so 
doing she would not reach the highest ideals, and would 
be, in my judgment, derelict in her national life. The 
man or the nation which attempts to stand absolutely 
alone, usually stands instead of going forward. I never 
like to see any man standing. I want him to be bounding 
forward with the steam of enthusiasm blowing off at the 
safety valve. Why should there be a Chinese wall be¬ 
tween ourselves and Canada, our neighbors and friends, 
just across a little stream, over which we can almost cast 
a stone? Why stand, as it were, behind a cannon and 
say if you come across you must scale a wall which is 
insurmountable by legitimate commerce ? So far as I am 
concerned, I am an American expansionist. I believe the 
day is rapidly approaching when the intelligence of the 
people who inhabit the Western Continent will be so 
bound together by a brotherhood of interest, that the 
whole American Continent will be federated under one 
general government. Why should it not be so? What 
interests have we that would not be furthered by a closer 
relationship with Canada? What interests have we that 
would not be enhanced by a unity of purpose with Mex¬ 
ico? 

Just as the progress of Ionia benefits the progress 
of other municipalities in the State, so would the progress 


[403] LEAGUE OF MICHIGAN MUNICIPALITIES. 55 

of the United States benefit the progress of Canada, Mex¬ 
ico and the Central American Republics, and their pro¬ 
gress in turn benefit the United States; and if this be 
true, why should it be necessary to have an army of cus¬ 
toms collectors guarding the entrances to our nation, 
which should be entered freely by our neighbors, whose 
free intercourse would be mutually advantageous? I 
counsel not combats anywhere,—war belongs to savages, 
rather than to civilized peoples—but I want to predict, 
here and now, that some day Canada and Mexico will 
produce their Washingtons; and when they do, they will 
find that America has her La Fayettes, and when this is 
done in the name of Christianity, civilization and broth¬ 
erly interests, the American La Fayettes will be giants of 
such magnitude that no nation will seek to challenge them 
to combat. Then an American brotherhood will be ac¬ 
complished, and unity of purpose established without the 
shedding of a single drop of human blood; and Canada 
and Mexico will bound forward like a weed in the warm 
spring time. So be it. 

This may all seem impertinent in a meeting of this 
character, but taken in a broader sense, it is eminently 
pertinent. It simply calls to mind our field of labor. It 
places before us the possibilities which allied interests and 
united forces may accomplish in the world of rapid 
changes and heretofore undreamed of progress, and it is 
the object of the League of Michigan Municipalities, as I 
understood it, to speak forth its views in sincerity and 
soberness upon all questions pertaining to the govern¬ 
ment, whether municipal, state or national. And as our 
well-being depends not alone upon our municipal govern¬ 
ment, nor alone upon the efficiency of our state govern¬ 
ment, but upon the combined efficiency of our municipal, 
state and national governments, so it becomes our duty 
to study well all questions with which we must now deal, 
or may hereafter be confronted; and when we have 


56 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE A SSOCIATION. [404] 

learned something which we believe will be beneficial to 
our body politic, it is the object and purpose of this 
League to give this knowledge to those whom it will 
benefit. 

In closing my address, I want to say that the suc¬ 
cess with which this League has been crowned is due 
largely to our worthy and most efficient Secretary, Pro¬ 
fessor John A. Fairlie, who has been untiring in the work 
of extending the usefulness of the League, which I truly 
believe is an organization more potent for good than any 
other League of my knowledge in our commonwealth. 
Under his direction has been established a Bureau of In¬ 
formation, and our membership have been kept informed 
regarding proper prices which should be paid for munici¬ 
pal improvements, and we know that many have been 
materially benefited thereby. Under his direction has 
been published the Michigan Municipalist, a small jour¬ 
nal devoted entirely to municipal problems. On behalf 
of the League I take this opportunity of thanking Pro¬ 
fessor Fairlie for his untiring efforts and efficient work 
in making this League one of such power for good, and 
placing it upon its high plane in municipal work. 

I thank you for your patient attention. 


REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 


JOHN A. FAIRLIE. 


The League of Michigan Municipalities was organized 
at a meeting of delegates from various cities in the State, 
held at Lansing in May, 1899. In the Constitution 
adopted, the object of the organization was declared to 
be “the general improvement, affiliation and facilitation 
of every branch of municipal administration.” Since its 
establishment, the League has held five conventions: at 
Grand Rapids, Jackson, Battle Creek, Owosso, and 
Adrian. The papers and addresses at these meetings 
have covered a wide variety of subjects in the field of 
municipal administration; and these, with the discussion 
on the part of the delegates, have served to bring about 
a valuable interchange of views and experiences. 

On assuming the position of Secretary, to which I 
was elected at the last meeting, my first efforts were 
directed towards reviving and extending the membership 
of the League. As a result of these efforts, most of the 
cities which had previously been members of the League 
have renewed their connection; and in addition eight 
other cities have become members. At the present time, 
there are eighteen cities in good standing on the rolls of 
the League. 

In the second place, steps were taken to make the 
Secretary's office an effective bureau of information on 
municipal affairs in Michigan, in accordance with the 
provisions of the Constitution. As the result of requests 
to city officials, a considerable collection of official docu¬ 
ments, such as city charters, ordinances, and reports have 




58 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [406] 


been collected, not only from Michigan cities, but also 
from some cities in other states. In addition, an attempt 
has been made to secure, in advance of the printed reports, 
statistical data on some special branches of municipal 
work, especially on street paving. The documents and 
information thus collected have been at hand for consul¬ 
tation, and as a basis for answering inquiries on various 
points from members of the League. A number of such 
inquiries have been received and answered. 

Much more can be done in this direction. With the 
material already on hand, the Secretary can furnish infor¬ 
mation and advice that will be of great assistance to city 
officers in the framing of ordinances and the organization 
of their activities. And, as the importance of this work 
is more generally understood, it will be easier to secure 
prompt and complete reports from the cities in answer to 
special requests from the Secretary’s office. 

In the third place, the Secretary has had the prepar¬ 
ation of the program for the present meeting. This is 
now in your hands, and further explanation is unneces¬ 
sary. 

In connection with the plans for this meeting, and 
also with the work of the Bureau of Information, two 
numbers of a small Bulletin—called the Michigan Munic- 
ipalist—have been prepared and published. These have 
contained announcements of the coming meetings, news 
items of municipal matters in Michigan, and other infor¬ 
mation of interest to municipal officials. The publica¬ 
tion of this Bulletin was begun as an experiment; and its 
continuance and success will require the active co-opera¬ 
tion of the officials in all the cities which are members of 
the League. With this assistance, it can be made a valu¬ 
able source of information and advice to Michigan 
municipalities. 

For the purpose of arousing discussion on additional 
plans and methods of work, I beg to call attention to some 


[407] LEAGUE OF MICHIGAN MUNICIPALITIES. 59 


features of similar Leagues in neighboring states. The 
League of Wisconsin Municipalities, which it may be 
noted comprises about one hundred cities, has co-operated 
with the State Library Commission in sending traveling 
libraries of books, reports and magazine articles on mu¬ 
nicipal affairs to the various cities of that state; and have 
thus made accessible to many of the smaller cities infor¬ 
mation usually confined to the large cities. 

The League of Indiana Municipalities has provided 
for the organization of six sections, each comprised of a 
particular class of municipal officers. There is a section 
of Mayors, one of Councilmen, one of City Attorneys, 
one of Police and other city officers, one of City Clerks 
and similar officers, and one of City Engineers, members 
of Boards of Public Works and other city boards. At 
the meetings of the League, several of these sections may 
hold sessions devoted to matters within their special field 
at the same time; while all the sections will also unite 
for a few general meetings. 


LEAGUE OF WISCONSIN MUNICIPALITIES. 


BY PROFESSOR S. E. SPARLING, SECRETARY. 


In 1898 the State of Wisconsin celebrated the semi¬ 
centennial anniversay of her admission to the Union. 
This celebration was of a dual character, and was divided 
between Milwaukee and Madison. Those features of the 
festivities devoted to the scientific, literary, and political 
achievements of the state were assigned to Madison. One 
of these features was unique in the history of the state. 
There happened to be at that time, as Mayor of the city 
of Madison, a progressive citizen, who fully realized the 
benefits derived by persons of kindred interests meeting 
for the purpose of better acquaintance, and for delibera¬ 
tion upon the problems with which they were all individ¬ 
ually concerned. His influence led to an invitation to the 
city officers of the state to meet in Madison upon the occa¬ 
sion of this celebration. 

Accordingly a program was prepared, and invitations 
sent out by the officers of Madison. The result was a 
large attendance of city officials, and the interest mani¬ 
fested in the discussion, as well as the opportunity it 
afforded the city officials to become better acquainted, 
suggested the establishment of a permanent organization. 
The meeting led to the appointment of a committee to 
canvass the situation, to provide a Constitution, and to 
call a meeting at some future date. 

In the meantime it was found that other states had 
established similar associations, Iowa, California, Michi¬ 
gan, Indiana and several other states had either organ- 




[409] LEAGUE OF WISCONSIN MUNICIPALITIES. 61 


ized such associations, or were contemplating such action, 
so that the League of Wisconsin Municipalities is not 
the pioneer in this field of organized civic work. But the 
very fact that the cities of other states were uniting in 
similar movements impressed the committee with the use¬ 
fulness and desirability of such an organization. 

The purpose and objects of the League of Wisconsin 
Municipalities are doubtless similar to those of other 
states. And while I am not certain that the committee, in 
framing its Constitution, had before it any model, it sum¬ 
marized, however, the objects and purposes of such 
organizations. The Constitution states that the general 
aim of the League is to be as follows: 

ist. The perpetuation of the organization as an 
agency for the co-operation of Wisconsin cities and incor¬ 
porated villages in practical study of administration. 

2d. The holding of conventions for the discussion of 
contemporaneous affairs. 

3rd. The establishment and maintenance of the Cen¬ 
tral Bureau of Information for the collection, compila¬ 
tion and dissemination of statistics, reports, and all kinds 
of information relative to municipal government ; and 

4th. To secure legislation that would be beneficial to 
the municipalities of the state, and the tax payers thereof, 
and to oppose and prevent legislation that would be inju¬ 
rious thereto. 

The objects and aims of the League are certainly pre¬ 
tentious. But no organization can exist upon its prom¬ 
ises. An association may exist for social purposes; it 
may exist as an avenue of activity for men ambitious to 
promote the public good; it may exist as an agency of 
information and discussion which may lead to well- 
considered action in a given field. 

A League of city officers serves these needs. It is a 
social institution, and gives the city officials an oppor¬ 
tunity to get acquainted with men of kindred purposes; 


62 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION [ 410 ] 


and they find many things in common upon which to base 
pleasant relations. 

The organization serves a wholesome purpose in giv¬ 
ing publicity to men who have ideas in reference to city 
government, and who are interested in the civic welfare. 
It is in the process of discussion that the talents of men 
are discovered. For this reason I feel that the Associa¬ 
tion is helpful, and will be still more so, when the nomi¬ 
nation of all candidates are made at the polls directly by 
the people with all the safeguards and secrecy of the 
Australian ballot. 

It is, however, in the discussion of the problems of 
city government, that these Leagues serve their primary 
end. With this omitted the other two services would not 
be sufficient to perpetuate the organization. They are sec¬ 
ondary, but still must be considered as important aids in 
building up an interest in its welfare. 

It is now left for me to show how far the League of 
Wisconsin Municipalities has made good its promises, as 
set forth in the preamble of its Constitution. And prob¬ 
ably the best way to discuss these promises is to take them 
up in the order in which they have been set forth. It 
may be in order to say that it has constantly grown, until 
to-day it has a membership of a hundred cities and vil¬ 
lages. The fees are made to cover the actual expenses 
of the Association. We have not succeeded in getting all 
the cities interested; but were it not for the frequent 
changes of city officials, it would not be long before we 
would impress upon them the advantages of co-operation. 
Progressive officials realize at once the advantages of our 
association, and gladly unite in extending its work. 

Naturally, through our conferences, interest has been 
aroused throughout the state in the work of the League. 
When the League was first organized we had two annual 
conferences, for the reason that as it was likely to be dif¬ 
ficult to get city officials to go any distance, on account 


[ 411 ] LEAGUE OF WISCONSIN MUNICIPALITIES. 63 

of expense and inconvenience, we thought by holding 
them more frequently in different parts of the state, that 
we would create a public sentiment which would induce 
the city officers of the state to co-operate with the League. 
It was later found advisable, however, to hold but one 
conference of a longer duration to admit of a more varied 
program, and urge upon the cities to pay the expenses of 
delegates to this conference. This has proven to be more 
successful, with the result that our attendance has in¬ 
creased until we have a goodly gathering of officials. 

We have attempted to make our program bear upon 
the concrete problems of city government, such as sew¬ 
age disposal, construction and maintenance of the streets 
and gutters, garbage disposal, public utilities, and the 
legislative needs of our cities. The educational value of 
these conferences is very great, and I find that cities send 
to them special committees to gather information upon 
some question before the City Council. Instances are 
at hand of a considerable saving to cities, by reason of 
attendance upon these conferences. I look upon our con¬ 
ferences as an indispensible feature of our work. I have 
in mind one Mayor who had trouble in convincing his 
Council that a franchise for lighting should be rejected, 
because of the excessive price demanded by the company. 
He took seven of his Council to one of our conferences, 
when this was a special feature of the program; and the 
result was a far more favorable contract for the city. 
Instances of improved sanitation have followed papers 
read by Dean Turneaure, of the College of Engineering 
in the State University, and other experts in this field of 
municipal work. While in some respects the discussions 
of the conference are not as abiding as some other feat¬ 
ure of our work, still they afford opportunities for sug¬ 
gestions, which can not be made through other means, 
but which are often more important and effective than 
an array of statistics and argument. 


64 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [ 412 ] 

The third means through which the League carries 
on its work is that of the Central Bureau of Information. 
Through correspondence and printed reports, it under¬ 
takes the dissemination of any information which the city 
officers request. The object of this Bureau was to sup¬ 
plement the discussions of the annual conferences, and 
especially to supply statistics, and literature to cities, 
which desired detailed knowledge upon some specific 
problem. 

The correspondence was of such nature, and the 
demand so great, that it was thought advisable to start 
an official organ of the League, for the purpose, periodi¬ 
cally, of reaching the various city officials. Consequently, 
a semi-annual Bulletin was published which contained 
at first, merely the program and the papers and addresses 
of the conferences. This, however, was found to be inad¬ 
equate, and it was thought advisable to start a quarterly 
Bulletin, known as “The Municipality.” Material accu¬ 
mulated, and this gradually passed into a bi-monthly, and 
finally into a monthly publication. This, however, 
proved burdensome, especially in the summer months, 
and likewise involved some financial uncertainties, which 
has led to a reduction in the number of issues for the 
year, which is now nine. 

The object of this magazine is to furnish a medium of 
communication between city officials, and to print such 
news and information as would be of interest to the city 
officers. It is not a pretentious magazine, but we feel that 
it has earned its right to exist. 

We have divided The Municipality into departments. 
We have extended the scope of the publication so as to 
interest county officials, and have also introduced a de¬ 
partment devoted to Womans’ Clubs, in their relation to 
civic work. 

The results of the publication of The Municipality, 
of course, cannot be accurately judged; but we have spe- 


[ 413 ] LEAGUE OF WISCONSIN MUNICIPALITIES. 65 


cific instances of cities undertaking new lines of work, 
and increasing their activities along old lines by reason 
of the suggestions and discussions which have appeared 
from time to time in its columns. 

We found, however, that there was still a demand for 
information which we could not supply through the col¬ 
umns of The Municipality. Information of a more tech¬ 
nical nature was desired, which could not be inserted in 
the magazine in a way adequate for the city desiring it. 
We also found it impossible to devote our time to the 
preparation of an extensive brief or report, in answer to 
the inquiries that came in from different cities. We rec¬ 
ommended the purchase of books by the local library; 
but the funds at their disposal in many places were so 
small that it was found difficult to make the desired pur¬ 
chases. In order to induce the libraries to supply their 
shelves with a few books of interest to city officers and 
others, we prepared a list of books on municipal questions 
which was printed by the Wisconsin Free Library Com¬ 
mission, and sent out to the local libraries of Wisconsin, 
Minnesota, Iowa and Indiana. I have been informed that 
this list has been of great service to library purchasing 
committees. 

But still inquiries came to the League as a result of 
immediate and particular problems, and in such frequent 
number, that it was suggested to the Wisconsin Free 
Library Commission that its service of traveling libraries 
be extended into this field. We believe that this plan is 
entirely unique in the annals of civic propaganda. Two 
traveling libraries were made up of books and reports 
covering the best literature on city government, and es¬ 
pecially treating of practical questions. The results 
attending this experiment have been gratifying. The 
libraries have been on the road two or three years, and 
the demand for libraries has far exceeded the expectation 
of the Commission or the League. Each library is com- 


66 MICHIOA N POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIA TION. [ 414 ] 


posed of 22 bound books, 17 magazine articles and spe¬ 
cial reports. The libraries are placed, as a rule, in the 
City Hall, or some convenient store, for a period of two 
or three weeks. The expenses to the patrons is merely 
that of transportation. The request for these libraries 
has come from various sources, not only city officers, but 
from editors of papers, business and civic associations. 
If the traveling library has been put to a similar use in 
any other state of the Union, I am not aware of it. I 
believe it to be a very valuable feature. 

The fourth and final phase of our work is to oppose 
the enactment of laws which in the judgment of the 
League might prove undesirable and disastrous to the 
cities. Consequently one of the first steps taken up by 
the League was to appoint a Committee on Legislation 
with the power to map out a legislative policy, to put their 
plans into definite legislative proposals, and to appear 
before the proper committees of the Legislature to urge 
their enactment. 

In order to appreciate fully the task before the League 
in attempting to secure the legislation desired, it will be 
necessary to state briefly the conditions prevailing in the 
State of Wisconsin in respect to the municipal laws now 
in force. In the first place the cities of Wisconsin have 
grown up under the policy of special legislation. Prob¬ 
ably it would be difficult to find in any state a more exces¬ 
sive use of this privilege of special appeal to the Legis¬ 
lature. The old story of lobbying for special privileges 
with the utter disregard of any plan in the organization 
of city government is fully apparent in the municipal 
history of the state. The condition of affairs continued 
until finally an amendment to the Constitution was passed 
requiring uniform legislation for corporate bodies, both 
private and public. This, of course, necessitated the 
enactment of a general municipal law which would take 
the place of special legislation. 


[ 415 ] LEAGUE OF WISCONSIN MUNICIPALITIES. 67 


A commission was provided for the purpose of pre¬ 
paring the general law, and the method and manner of 
its preparation is interesting, if not wholly commendable. 
The commission was composed of excellent men, all law¬ 
yers, but it was at a period when little attention was 
given to the theory of city government. At that time 
a municipal charter was viewed as a legal document. 
There was little, if any attempt, to bring to bear familiar 
principles of political organization upon the charter. The 
problem before the commission, as it has been given to 
me personally, was to secure a law which would do as 
little violence as possible to the special charters then pre¬ 
vailing in the state. The method followed by the com¬ 
mission was to get the charters from the leading cities 
of the state, and to take from each such parts as seemed 
desirable, and weld them together by a few connecting- 
phrases. The result can be readily imagined. The 
charter grew in volume, and was filled with endless details 
until its unity, if it ever had any, was obliterated. 

When the draft was submitted to the Legislature, it 
was impossible to make the law mandatory, and it was 
found necessary to permit the cities to adopt it if they 
desired to do so. The result is that the cities, which were 
operating under special charters and had become accus¬ 
tomed to them, were slow to make a change. 

On the other hand, the rapid development and growth 
of the cities made new powers necessary. Consequently 
the cities were compelled to resort to some method in 
order to secure a remedy. Unfortunately they found it 
easier to go to the State Legislature and get remedial 
legislation, than to uproot their special charters, and to 
adopt a law which was so cumbersome in detail and so 
uncertain as to the outcome of the judicial interpretation 
of its provisions. The remedial legislation was in the 
form of an amendment which permitted a city to adopt 
any portion of the general law relating to a given subject. 


68 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [ 416 ] 


In this manner the door of special legislation, in a limited 
form, was thrown open; since it virtually meant that the 
cities could patch up their charters by adopting the nec¬ 
essary provisions of the general law. The result is that 
the provisions of the Constitution prohibiting special 
legisation, have been, to a considerable extent, set aside, 
and the incentive to adopt the general law as a whole has 
been largely removed, although one or two cities have 
done so in the last two or three years. 

It is upon this statement of facts that the committee 
of the League has been compelled to build its legislative 
program. The object has been to secure uniformity of 
organization, and the steps which it has outlined as part 
of this program were, (i) to secure a uniform term of 
all officers of a given class; (2) to provide some plan 
which would regulate the size of the Council; (3) to 
secure bi-ennial municipal elections; and, (4) to secure 
a system of uniform accounting and auditing. The diffi¬ 
culties confronting the committee were almost insur¬ 
mountable, but it finally secured the enactment of a law 
making the term of Mayor two years through the state. 
It has not succeeded in securing bi-ennial elections, for 
the reason that we are compelled to hold judicial elections 
in the spring, and it seemed to the committee of the 
Legislature that no good results would follow the election 
of city officers every two years when elections must be 
held for other purposes. 

The League, however, has made some progress with 
uniform accounting for the localities of the state. It has 
succeeded in securing the endorsement of the State Tax 
Commission, and there is much to encourage the hope 
that legislation along this line will follow soon. While 
the League has not accomplished all that it desired in the 
way of legislation, it is calling the attention of the Leg¬ 
islature to the deficiencies of the municipal laws, and at 
the same time is asking the cities of the state to adopt the 


[ 417 ] LEAGUE OF WISCONSIN MUNICIPALITIES. 69 

general law as a whole in spite of its deficiencies, and to 
concentrate their efforts upon securing amendments to it. 
In fact, several cities are now in correspondence with us 
in regard to the adoption of the general law. 

We have thus briefly outlined the policy and work of 
the League of Wisconsin Municipalities. It is difficult 
to show the intangible benefits which have been conferred 
upon the cities of the state by this organization. Its vari¬ 
ous activities are concentrated upon the technical prob¬ 
lems of government, as well as upon stimulating the 
interest of the officials and citizens in the government of 
their respective cities. We are attempting to open up an 
avenue of usefulness for those city officials who desire to 
add something to municipal experience which may prove 
a guide for our cities. We believe that the greatest bene¬ 
fit of the League is the encouragement of those city offi¬ 
cials who are devoting their energy and time to improve 
the condition of their respective communities. We feel 
that we have done something to enhance the dignity of 
the office of Mayor. The progressive Mayors of the state 
take pride in identifying themselves with our organiza¬ 
tion, and giving their assistance and counsel in promoting 
its influence and power. 

The League has proven its right to exist by the work 
which it has accomplished. Its future seems full of prom¬ 
ise and hope. We have received encouragement from 
men in public life who are not identified with city gov¬ 
ernment. The League stands for the conception of mu¬ 
nicipal activity expressed in the words of Lord Rose¬ 
bery before the municipal officers and citizens of Swan¬ 
sea : “I wish that my voice could be heard far beyond 
Swansea; I wish that it could extend to every municipal¬ 
ity in the Kingdom, and impress upon every man, how¬ 
ever high his position, however great great his wealth, 
however consumate his talents may be, the importance 
and nobility of municipal work. There is no Town Coun- 


70 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [ 418 ] 


cil that has not done more to be seen in this past year 
than Parliament has done in the past year. The Coun¬ 
cillors can walk about and see the operations of the Coun¬ 
cil to which he belongs; and, moreover, he can, in the 
bosom of the Council itself, nourish fresh schemes of 
practical improvement which he knows will be carried 
out in the most efficient way if they are voted. I do not 
think our people understand how much larger and more 
noble and more useful this municipal life is going to 
become. Year by year it grows and grows, and I think 
out of proportion to the growth of the importance of the 
Imperial Parliament. Each year men are more and more 
engrossed in the work of their locality, in developing 
their own locality, in making that locality more useful, 
more beautiful, and a better place for men and women to 
live in. I hold that this is an object worthy of any man’s 
ambition. There is no man too great to serve in these 
capacities, and if I could leave one grain of seed by the 
roadside, when I go away this afternoon, it would be the 
precept that no man of Swansea, however great or emi¬ 
nent he may be, would neglect the burden, the responsi¬ 
bility, and the happiness of municipal work.” 


THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE CRIMINAL 
LAWS OF THE STATE IN CITIES 
AND VILLAGES. 


BY JUSTICE CLAUDIUS B. GRANT, OF THE MICHIGAN 
SUPREME COURT. 


The people of Michigan have enacted laws, deemed by 
them necessary for the protection of the persons, prop¬ 
erty, health and morals of the children and citizens of 
the state. They should propound to themselves three 
questions, and then answer them: 

1. Were they enacted to be enforced? 

2. If to be enforced have the necessary agencies been 
provided ? 

3. If such agencies are provided, should they perform 
that duty? 

In this discussion I shall refer to the laws upon three 
subjects,—the liquor traffic, gambling places and dens of 
prostitution, because they are the principal nurseries and 
educators in crime. They are the resorts of the low, the 
debased and the criminal classes. They are the producers 
of poverty, suicide, divorce, pauperism, insanity, and 
disease, physical and moral. 

THE SITUATION. 

The laws defining, prohibiting and punishing these 
crimes are ample. To keep a house of prostitution is by 
statute a felony, and may be punished by imprisonment 
for five years in the penitentiary. The keeping of a 
gambling den may be punished by a fine of $500, or im¬ 
prisonment for three months, or both. The liquor law 




72 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION [ 420 ] 


makes wise and ample provisions for the conduct of the 
traffic, and if violated provides a penalty of $200 and 
costs, or imprisonment not less than ten, nor more than 
ninety days, or both. These places exist almost exclu¬ 
sively in cities and villages. They are rarely found in 
townships. The rural population market their products 
and do their trading in cities and villages, are frequently 
within their borders, and all, men, women and children 
are exposed to the evil influences of such places. A year 
ago last summer I had an occasion to spend an hour on 
Sunday in one of the hotels at Whitmore Lake. I found 
two young fellows, 18 or 20 years old, bucking the large 
gambling slot machines, screwed to the wall of the office. 
They used up all the nickels they had—and they evi¬ 
dently came with a good supply,—then obtained from the 
proprietor all he had, used them, and then went to the 
guests of the hotel for more. This, in Washtenaw 
County, where is located our great University! Such 
flagrant, open and long-continued violations of law must 
have been known to the sheriff and constable of the town¬ 
ship; and I infer that this species of gambling was per¬ 
mitted everywhere in the county. 

In our large cities well-dressed scoundrels are on the 
alert to entice the stranger into these places for purposes 
of plunder or ruin. I do not overstate the fact, when I 
say that in most of our municipalities parties engaged in 
these demoralizing businesses have been allowed to ply 
their vocations without let or hindrance. When the house 
of prostitution becomes too notorious the police give it a 
warning, or a notice to move elsewhere. The liquor law 
has been openly violated in all our large cities, and in 
many, if not most, small ones. Within the last few years, 
in some cities where citizens have been bold enough to 
unite and demand an enforcement of the law, better en¬ 
forcement has been accomplished. But the bald fact 
remains that these laws have been, and are notoriously 


[421] 


ENFOBCEMENT OF THE LA W. 


73 


violated. The further fact is apparent that there can be 
no extensive violation of these laws, except by the express 
or tacit assent of the police officers of our municipalities. 
In short, what the people have seen fit to punish as crim¬ 
inal, municipal officers have seen fit virtually to license. 
The sweet will of municipal officers has supplanted the 
solemn edict of the people. 

THE EXCUSE. 

The excuse set up by the keepers of these places, their 
patrons and apologists is, that public sentiment does not 
demand the enforcement of these laws,—a charge serious, 
if true, and a sad reflection upon our Christianity and 
civilization. But the charge is false. What do these 
apologists mean by public sentiment ? Do they mean that 
there is no public sentiment because people do not stand 
at the street corners or upon the housetops, or hire halls 
and congregate there to express their sentiment? Do 
they mean that a majority of the men and women of our 
state are in favor of the wide-open saloon 365 days and 
nights in the year; of the wide-open gambling den and 
the wide-open house of prostitution ? Do they mean that 
the majority of fathers and mothers desire no restraint 
upon these places, and to leave them wide open for the 
ruin of their sons and daughters ? Do they mean that the 
majority of our population frequent these places, and that 
therefore jurors will not convict the guilty? If this be 
the condition of affairs, it becomes us as a people to 
cease sending money to convert the heathen, and solicit 
the heathen to send money to convert us. But what is the 
real fact ? The trouble lies largely with the dwellers upon 
our Piety Hills, who are too busy or do not care, or are 
afraid to express their opinion publicly, much less to unite 
to enforce their sentiments. None of you need to be told 
that, as a rule, it is unsafe for a private citizen to under¬ 
take the prosecution of these three offenses. The crim- 


74 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE AS80CIA TION. [422J 

inals think it is none of his business, and they do not 
hesitate to destroy his property, to assault, and even to 
murder him, in order that they may intimidate other good 
citizens from undertaking a duty which the law does not 
impose upon him. Life and property are dear, and the 
private citizen may well hesitate before making complaint 
against these violators of the law, for he knows that they 
have no conscience, no honor, and no regard or respect 
for law or order. If the private citizen, in the belief that 
some officer is charged with the duty to enforce these 
laws, notifies him of violations, or of intended violations, 
and then criticizes him for his neglect of duty, the officer 
prosecutes him for libel or slander. A fair instance of 
this is found in Scougale vs. Sweet (124 Mich. 311). The 
gang takes these methods to stifle and intimidate public 
sentiment, and then when the statement is made that offi¬ 
cers fail in their duty to enforce the law, they and their 
apologists raise the false cry that they are not enforced 
because public sentiment condemns the law and favors its 
violations. Gentlemen of this association, and citizens 
all, what do you think of the proposition ? 

If I believed that a majority of the men and women 
of this country desire that the violators of these laws 
should be protected in such violations by the police offi¬ 
cers and the courts, and were willing to expose their sons 
and daughters to the demoralizing influence of these 
places, I should despair of the long continuance of this 
Republic. If, after a century and a quarter of govern¬ 
ment by the people, and after the expenditure of millions 
in schools, and of other millions in colleges and churches, 
and after burdensome taxation in support of education, 
we have advanced no farther in a healthy public senti¬ 
ment than these apologists for crime seem to believe, the 
conflict for better things would seem to be almost hope¬ 
less. But, thank God, the charge is false, and none know 
it better than those who make it. 


[ 423 ] 


ENFORCEMENT OF THE LA W. 


75 


Public sentiment is overwhelmingly in favor of enforc¬ 
ing these laws, but it slumbers. Sometimes it is suddenly 
awakened by some dastardly crime, or some intolerable 
condition, and then it moves like a torrent, and becomes 
the illegal executioner of the laws. Such was the case 
when the crowd gathered a few years ago in Negaunee, 
Mich., and in broad daylight drove out the inmates of 
a house of prostitution and burned the house to the 
ground, because one of its keepers had murdered an offi¬ 
cer of the city. So, an orderly mob of citizens of New 
Orleans, becoming intolerant of the then existing condi¬ 
tions, marched to the city jail, broke it open, and hung 
nine alleged murderers. 

Having stifled public sentiment and silenced the 
action of individuals, these law-breakers and their accom- 
plices, in the evident belief that police officers can, and 
may compel obedience to the law, deliberately set about to 
prevent any action upon their part. The consequent graft 
in many of the large cities of the country is a story known 
to you all, and I need not repeat it. I read a statement 
a short time ago in the papers that the National Liquor 
Dealers’ Association had several million dollars with 
which to fight, in the various states of the Union, legisla¬ 
tion restrictive to their business and attempts to enforce 
the laws. They have these organizations in every state, 
and they will not stop short of corrupt means to accom¬ 
plish their object. I wrote to the editor of the saloon¬ 
keepers’ organ in Detroit, a few years ago, offering at my 
own expense to go to Detroit and address the saloon¬ 
keepers on the question whether the law ought to be en¬ 
forced. He replied that the saloon-keepers of the city 
would hold no more meetings until the campaign for the 
next state election. The Bartenders’ Association of De¬ 
troit gave a smoker, two or three years ago, with one of 
the principal police officers of the county present as their 
guest. The disgraceful scenes there enacted were almost 


76 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION [424] 


too vile for publication. The smoker fairly illustrates 
the character of a majority of the men engaged in the 
business. 

The saloon ever has been, and always will be, a cor¬ 
rupt element in politics. Said Commissioner Roosevelt 
on the situation in New York City: “The most powerful 
saloon-keepers controlled the politicians and the police, 
while the latter in turn terrorized and blackmailed all the 
other saloon-keepers.” If the American people do not 
control it, it will control them. 

The power and duty of the state to pass these laws 
are unquestioned. If there were no laws upon these and 
kindred matters, Michigan would not be attractive to the 
better class of people. When one purposes to settle in a 
place with his family, he naturally, if he is a wise man, 
looks to the moral surroundings, and would not settle in 
a community where there were no laws to protect the 
virtue, honor and morals of his sons and daughters. 

I have occasionally been met with the statement that 
the enforcement of the law in one municipality is no con¬ 
cern of the rest of the people of the state. As one man 
put it, “We can take care of our own violations of law, 
and will thank outsiders to let us alone.” In other words, 
the state is not interested in the morals of that integral 
part of its territory, or in the execution of the laws 
therein. When such a municipality can build a Chinese 
wall around itself and confine within it its own criminals 
and immorality, it may be justified in making this claim. 
But so long as criminals and immorality are migratory, 
so long the whole state is interested in the condition of 
every locality, and has the right to demand the execution 
of the law therein. 

That the enforcement of these laws will benefit society 
and protect the youth from temptation, I assume no one 
will deny. They are not “four-flushing” laws, such as 
Carter Harrison, the present Mayor of Chicago, described 


[ 425 ] 


ENFORCEMENT OF THE LAW. 


77 


many ordinances of that city to be. You will find his 
description of such laws in his recent lame excuse for 
failing to enforce the ordinances of the city, which failure 
resulted in the terrible holocaust at the Iroquois Theater. 
It was published in the Saturday Evening Post of last 
week. 

The Tammany grafters and the saloon-keepers may 
have secured the passage of the present excise law of New 
York, as a “four-flushing” law, intended as an ornament, 
or for graft, and not for execution; but that does not 
apply to the people of Michigan, who many years ago 
passed the laws of which I am speaking. Many prosecu¬ 
tions and convictions have been had under them. The 
validity of nearly every provision has been contested, 
even to the court of last resort, but has been sustained. 
Every device which ingenuity could contrive has been 
resorted to to evade them, but without success, when a 
bona fide attempt has been made to bring the offenders to 
justice. 

I answer the first question, that the people in enacting 
these laws, intended that they should be executed in every 
nook and corner of the state. 

THE AGENCIES FOR THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE LAW. 

They are: 

1. The Governor, in whom is vested the executive 
power. Section 6 of Article V. of the Constitution pro¬ 
vides, that “he (the Governor) shall take care that the 
laws be faithfully executed.” 

2 . The sheriff, who is the chief police officer of the 
county, and the constables, who are police officers of the 
townships. These ^re constitutional officers. 

3. The mayors, who are the chief executive officers 
of their municipalities. 


78 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE A SSOCIATION. [426] 


4. Marshals, police commissioners and police officers, 
who are usually provided for in every municipal charter. 

5. The Circuit Courts and the judges thereof. 

In defining crimes and providing punishments there¬ 
for, no express duty is usually imposed upon any particu¬ 
lar officer to see that those laws are enforced and offend¬ 
ers brought to trial. A law without any provision to 
enforce it would be an anomaly and render its enactors 
the just subject of ridicule. To suppose that the people 
intended to leave their enforcement optional with private 
citizens would be absurd. To suppose that the Legisla¬ 
ture intended to impose upon the private citizen the duty 
to leave his business, investigate and make complaint for 
the apprehension of criminals is equally absurd. Except 
the provision above quoted, in regard to the duty of the 
Governor, there is no language in the Constitution im¬ 
posing that duty upon any other officer. In order to 
secure their enforcement the Governor may do three 
things: (1) He may call out the militia when violators 

are beyond the control of the local police. (2) He may 
remove elective officers from office for non-performance 
of duty. (3) He may issue a proclamation calling upon 
and directing local officers to enforce the laws. On sev¬ 
eral occasions the Governor of this state has issued his 
proclamation to local police officers to prevent prize fights. 
I remember no case where any Governor has issued a 
proclamation for any other violations of law. The peo¬ 
ple have rested from the beginning upon the theory that 
the officers above mentioned are charged with the duty of 
enforcing the criminal laws of the state, which are en¬ 
acted for the purpose of protecting their lives, persons, 
property, health and morals. 

As Circuit Judge I assumed that this duty was de¬ 
volved upon them by the law, and so informed them. I 
also informed them that they were subject to removal by 
the Governor for neglect or refusal. The result was a 


[ 427 ] 


ENFORCEMENT OF THE LAW. 


79 


ready compliance with their duty and the enforcement of 
the law. As I was about to retire from the circuit bench, 
the saloon-keepers began again their violations of law. 
I immediately called a grand jury for the next term of 
the court, and under my successor many indictments were 
found and convictions had. In my judgment, the circuit 
judges are not only clothed with power, but are charged 
with the duty to see that these laws are enforced. I am 
aware that in saying this I am running counter to cus¬ 
tom, and to a belief, perhaps, even on the part of many 
of the judges. Many seem to be of the opinion that the 
duty of the judge is fully performed when he disposes of 
cases which are brought before him for trial and judg¬ 
ment thereon. I cannot so read the law. The power to 
do a thing usually carries with it the duty to do it. 

In abolishing the regular sessions of the grand jury 
I do not think it was the intention of the people to retain 
the calling of one at the mere discretion of the circuit 
judge, no matter what the necessity might be therefor. 
When the necessity arises the duty must follow. The 
people, including the law-breakers, have a wholesome re¬ 
spect for the courts, especially when these courts insist 
that the laws must be respected and obeyed. If any cir¬ 
cuit judge is of the opinion that the use of the means 
placed in his power is discretionary, I appeal to him to 
exercise that discretion in favor of humanity, of decency, 
of law and order, and for the protection of the boys and 
girls of the state. 

The statute reads: 

“Grand juries shall not hereafter be drawn, sum¬ 
moned or required to attend at the sittings of any court 
within this state, as provided by law, unless the judge 
therefor shall so direct by writing, under his hand, and 
filed with the clerk of said court 1 .” 


l Sec. 11939, Compiled Laws. 



80 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [428] 

Almost within the very shadow of the temples of jus¬ 
tice the most flagrant and open violations of law daily 
occur. The places thus run in violation of law are very 
nests of crime. They polute public and private morals. 
They corrupt and ruin our youth, and yet those who pre¬ 
side in those temples of justice are silent. If the six 
circuit judges in the County of Wayne would notify the 
sheriff of the county, the mayors and police of its cities 
and villages, that these laws must be obeyed and enforced, 
I do not hesitate to say that no grand jury or removal of 
police officers would become necessary. None know bet¬ 
ter than the keepers of these places, that the law ought 
to be enforced. When they know that behind the law 
stands a power determined to have it enforced, the work 
is substantially done. For this purpose no power is equal 
to that possessed by the circuit courts and those who 
preside over them. The above agencies are ample to 
secure the enforcement of law. Unless they do it, it will 
probably not be done. 

THE EFFECT OF NON-ENFORCEMENT. 

The demoralization caused by disregard of law and 
lawlessness is apparent to everyone. It demoralizes the 
police officers; it creates contempt for law among all, espe¬ 
cially among the young. When a boy sees one law openly 
violated he loses respect for all law. As was recently 
said by a committee of the Association of Neighborhood 
Workers in New York City, “We are training up the 
younger generation to have no respect for law.” There 
is not a boy who does not know that gambling slot- 
machines are maintained in violation of law. They have 
been openly permitted to exist in saloons, in cigar stores, 
hotels, restaurants, and other places,—a standing menace 
to honest boyhood and manhood. Five boys, 14 to 16 
years of age, were arrested in Lansing'a little over a year 
ago, and convicted of burglary. One was a clergyman’s 


[429] ENFORCEMENT OF THE LA W. 81 

son. They commenced by playing the slot-machines, 
which, of course, beat them out of their money, and then 
they stole and committed burglary to get money with 
which to play them farther. It is this disregard of law 
and the neglect to teach law in our public, private and 
Sunday schools that leads to the wanton destruction of 
property on Hallowe’en nights, as well as at other times. 
A few years ago the Detroit Free Press in an editorial, 
said: “Little girls are sent to the worst saloons to buy 
pails of beer, and little boys are sent to these same saloons 
to lead home drunken fathers. What will the harvest 
be?" Said Jacob A. Riis, during the fight under Com¬ 
missioner Roosevelt, “I stood in front of an East Side 
saloon and watched a steady stream of little ones with 
mugs and bottles going through the door, and I told 
Roosevelt.” The people are reaping the harvest in the 
annual crops of criminals, mostly young. 

THE EFFECT OF ENFORCING THE LAW. 

That the effect of enforcing the law would undoubt¬ 
edly result in great pecuniary loss to the brewers, the dis¬ 
tillers and the saloon-keepers, is unquestionable. What 
they lose, however, would go to legitimate trade. Wives 
and children would be better clothed and better fed. 
There would be fewer suicides, fewer divorces, fewer 
embezzlers, less disease, physical and moral, and better 
health and better morals. The vendors and traders in 
merchandise essential to good living and good health 
would profit, and happy homes would increase;—such 
homes as are the safeguards of the Republic. We often 
hear the cry that saloons and houses of prostitution bring 
trade to a place. The statement is too absurd to require 
contradiction. This cry was made in regard to houses of 
prostitution in one of the towns of the circuit over which 
I once presided. After the dens had been closed one of 
the principal merchants in the place said to me that ho 


82 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [430] 


had never had such a trade as he had had since they were 
closed, and with fewer losses and more prompt pay¬ 
ment. About twelve years ago, when the first feeble 
effort was made in Detroit to enforce the provisions of 
the liquor law, by requiring bonds and the payment of the 
tax, I noticed that during the following year criminal 
arrests fell off in Detroit about 950. When Theodore 
Roosevelt was placed at the head of the Police Commis¬ 
sion in New York City, he had respect for his oath of 
office, and shrank not from performing his duty. He 
was condemned by the gang and the Tammany “heelers/’ 
and other sympathizers. They thought, evidently, that 
this was one of the Carter Harrison’s “four-flushing” 
laws, and was not intended to be enforced. Mr. Roose¬ 
velt could do no less than his duty. He did it,—and what 
was the result? That conservative paper, The Church¬ 
man, is my authority for the statement that within two 
months Sunday crimes fell off 50 per cent.; the weekly 
sales of beer by breweries decreased by $75,000.00, and 
the deposits in the savings banks increased by about a 
like amount. Let Jacob Riis, who was one of his com¬ 
rades in the fight, tell the story: “He (Roosevelt) was 
doing nothing worse than enforcing honestly a law that 
had been enforced dishonestly in all the years. The Sun¬ 
day arrests shrank to one-half of the record in the evil 
Tammany days. Still the clamor rose. The yellow news¬ 
papers pursued Roosevelt with malignant lies. They 
shouted daily that the city was overrun with thieves and 
murderers, that crime was rampant and unavenged. 
Every thief, cut-throat, and blackmailer who had place 
and part in the old order of things joined in the howl. 
Roosevelt went deliberately on, the only one who was 
calm amid all the hubbub. And when, after many weeks 
of it, the smoke cleared away; when the saloon-keepers 
owned in court that they were beaten; when the warden 
of Bellevue Hospital reported that for the first time in 


[ 431 ] 


ENFORCEMENT OF THE LAW. 


83 


its existence there had not been a ‘case/ clue to a drunken 
brawl, in the hospital all Monday ; when the police courts 
gave their testimony, while savings banks recorded in¬ 
creased deposits, and pawn shops hard times; when poor 
mothers flocked to the institutions to get their children 
whom they had placed there for safe-keeping in the wide- 
open days—then we knew what his victory meant/’ 

We need no more law. The law is sufficient; the 
agencies provided are ample to enforce it. The sheriff 
of Wayne County and his deputies can enforce it if they 
choose, so also can the Mayor of the city and his police 
department if they choose. They have but to make the 
announcement, and mean it, and there will be a compli¬ 
ance. 

Some circuit judges have called grand juries to inves¬ 
tigate these violations of law, with the result that indict¬ 
ments, convictions and imprisonments have followed. 
Occasional fines of $5, $10, and $25 for these offenses 
will never stop them. Only the imposition of the extreme 
penalty of the law will suffice. 

A HOPEFUL SIGN. 

Law and Order Leagues, Civic Federations and other 
like associations, are being organized in various munici¬ 
palities to secure the better enforcement of the laws. So 
far as my observation goes, in every place where such 
an organization exists there has been a betterment. The 
enemy is organized, and it is but human nature that 
the average aspirant for office will avail himself of the 
influence of such organizations, if he thinks that by so 
doing he can secure votes. Partisanship must be laid 
aside in municipal elections; or at least there must be an 
independent organization, composed of the better men of 
all parties, who will not vote for a bad man, but who will 
do all they can to defeat him. The saloon, the house of 
prostitution, and the gambling den must be destroyed as 


84 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [432] 


a factor in politics. Not many years ago the candidate 
for Mayor of one of our large cities, had as his political 
manager the most notorious gambler of the city. I tell 
you, my friends, the dwellers upon the Piety Hills of our 
municipalities must come out from their shells of indif¬ 
ference and organize for civic reform and civic righteous¬ 
ness. 

In conclusion, I plead for a vigilant, courageous, pa¬ 
triotic and organized citizenship. I plead for a higher 
standard of morals, public and private. I plead for more 
Jacob Riises in the rank and file of citizenship, and more 
Roosevelts in office, national, state and municipal. I 
plead for a pulpit with the courage of the great Master, 
who armed Himself with a scourge and drove the mis¬ 
creants from the temple. I plead for schools where shall 
be taught morals and law. I plead for officers who will 
live up to their oaths of office. I plead for a press which 
will not apologize for law-breaking, but insist vigorously 
upon law-keeping. The words of the great Lincoln 
should be placed in the hands of every father and mother, 
of every preacher, of every teacher, and of every official 
in the land: 

“Let reverence of law be taught in schools and col¬ 
leges, be written in primers, and spelling-books, be pub¬ 
lished from pulpits and proclaimed in legislative houses, 
and enforced in the courts of justice—in short, let it 
become the political religion of the nation.” 


THE LEGISLATURE AND LOCAL BILLS. 


BY DAVID E. HEINEMAN, MEMBER OF THE STATE BOARD 
OF LIBRARY COMMISSIONERS, AND OF THE DETROIT 
COMMON COUNCIL. 


I am called upon to offer some brief observations on 
the important subject of the relation of the Legislature to 
what we call local bills. Anyone who has given more than 
passing attention during the last few years to State and 
municipal affairs in Michigan, and we might add, her 
sister states, will agree that the subject is, indeed, of 
prime importance. In our own State, it may be doubted 
if from any other source so much just criticism has been 
directed against recent legislatures. It may be well, 
therefore, to look into the causes of this criticism, and to 
see if proper remedies are not available. In my opinion 
the maladies and the remedies are both quite elementary; 
and in suggesting them I make no other claim for doing 
so, than the fact that that opinion is based upon personal 
experience, both in the Legislature and in a municipal 
Council. 

The conscientious legislator who takes his seat in 
Lansing, if he be a person of any fitness whatsoever, does 
so with the firm conviction that passing laws is a task 
fraught with great responsibility, not lightly to be tamp¬ 
ered with, but to be exercised only with the greatest cau¬ 
tion and deliberation. The words, ‘‘The People of the 
State of Michigan enact,” stand at the head of every one 
of our laws. Those are solemn words, and the sober- 
minded legislator never forgets, when he studies every 
word and comma of a proposed statute, that he is legis- 




86 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION [434] 


lating for the entire people of a state, and that the entire 
people of a state are expecting that their will and man¬ 
date is being enacted by and through him. 

How does this work in practice? I have compared 
my impressions with those of legislators of various ses¬ 
sions and the impressions tally. The legislator is sworn 
in. He has already heard time and again that “there won’t 
be any work done to amount to anything till the time 
limit for the introduction of bills has expired,” and ac¬ 
quiescing in this tradition of idleness, he is prepared for 
the daily brief routine of formal business that is supposed 
to make up the history of the first few months of a legis¬ 
lature’s life. Would that it were so, or else that the 
weird time limit were altogether abolished. What actu¬ 
ally happens is this: The very first week of the session, 
when the order of Introduction of Bills is reached, Mr. 
Second-Termer of Lena wash County, obtains recognition 
from the Chair, and the following performance is gone 
through: 

The Speaker—“The gentleman from Lena wash 
County.” And the gentleman from Lenawash County 
delivers himself as follows: “Mr. Speaker, the bill I 
have just introduced, and which has been read by title 
the first and second time, is a local bill. It only concerns 
the people of Lenawash County, and I ask unanimous 
consent that the rules be suspended, and the bill be placed 
upon its immediate passage.” 

He sits down, while the new member wonders if the 
work of legislation, which only affects the people of Len¬ 
awash County, or only the people of the City of Detroit, 
as the case may be, can possibly move along so expedi¬ 
tiously, without a word of explanation or a word of 
inquiry. Other new members share his bewilderment. 
If they whisper this bewilderment to a more experienced 
colleague, the answer is, “Oh, its only a local bill, that’s 
all;” and Mr. Newmember soon buries his surprise in 


[ 435 ] THE LEGISLATURE AND LOCAL BILLS . 


87 


the consoling reflection that he himself has got a few 
local bills of his own nicely locked up in his desk, whence 
he apparently can run them through the hopper in the 
same speedy, but effective fashion. 

By this time, of course, the roll has been called, and 
the people of Lenawash County have been nicely legis¬ 
lated for. The bill goes to the other House. By a pro¬ 
cess of reciprocity, which resembles nothing so much as 
that off-hand courtesy which might prompt one man to 
help another put on his overcoat, the bill goes through the 
same perfunctory performance in the other House. 

It now goes to the Governor. The Governor of our 
State for many years back has the power of veto. I know 
that to be true, because I have read the Constitution of 
the State. To prove it from the legislative journals would 
be a very laborious task. At all events, seeing that most 
all of the vetoes are written on the Greek kalends, it is 
safe to say that the bill which only legislates for Lena- 
wash County is duly signed and becomes a law. 

Some time in the early winter, or maybe next year, 
when the big volume of local acts is printed, in any case 
after the adjournment of the Legislature, the grateful 
people of Lenawash County gradually have it dawn upon 
them that they have been legislated for, and generally, 
as the phrase is, “good and plenty.” 

Now, I do not blame the legislators or the Governor 
for all this. The marvel is that they do not do worse. 
The fault is in the system. I have been guilty of passing 
bills in just that fashion. Of course, all my bills were 
good bills, they were just what my constituents wanted ; 
while many of the bills that the members from other dis¬ 
tricts wanted were, of course, not good bills at all; only 
they couldn’t see it that way. They would persist in hav¬ 
ing just as good an opinion of the local bills they intro¬ 
duced as I had of my local bills. When one has a lot of 
pleasant colleagues afflicted with that sort of heresy, the 


88 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [ 436 ] 


only thing to do is, of course, to overlook it, and then 
besides, they are only “local bills, to be sure; that’s all.” 

The mischief, however, is not limited to one's own 
local bills, or to one’s own nest. The legislative stork 
who brings the baby bills from Detroit, for example, 
always does so in a small hand-satchel, which is just big 
enough to contain the bill, together with enough raiment 
to suffice the stork himself for just one night, in case the 
bill should unexpectedly not be fully born and fledged 
into a living act all in one day. In the City of Detroit 
the legislative stork is generally some attorney or a mem¬ 
ber of a municipal commission, some supposedly influen¬ 
tial friend of some head of department, perhaps a smooth¬ 
tongued underling of some public official, or maybe some 
private attorney; it all depends on whether the function 
of the grip-sack bill is to tinker up the law for a com¬ 
mission or a department, to increase the salary of an offi¬ 
cial, or to do the something else for which somebody has 
hired the attorney. The fact remains that when the bill is 
passed, as it generally is, the people of the City of De¬ 
troit know nothing about it, except as its title may appear 
in the list of bills passed, or as some prowling newspaper 
watch dog, at present the greatest legislative friend whom 
the people possess, may have pawed it over and discov¬ 
ered the more salient, though often the least dangerous, 
features of the bill. 

The very worst instances of this sort of lawmaking 
appear when local legislation of the most radical kind is 
hastily and deliberately rushed through by the effort of 
a lobby, either with the assistance of the local legislators, 
or in spite of their opposition, when a bill is quickly intro¬ 
duced and the ways gradually prepared (being an ex¬ 
legislator, and otherwise not readily inclined to think evil 
of my fellow man, I will not use the word “greased”). 
When, I say, the ways are gradually prepared until 
everything is ready for the launching, then all of a sud- 


[ 437 ] THE LEGISLATIVE AND LOCAL BILLS. 


89 


den, the full-rigged statute comes sailing into the sight 
of an unsuspecting public, which had even failed to take 
note that the very keel had ever been laid. This sort of 
iniquity we have come to call “ Ripper legislation.” The 
legislation in itself may not necessarily be bad, the same 
is to be said of all local bills, but the method in every 
case is nothing short of damnable. 

This, then, is the situation. Local bills are passed 
and the public knows nothing about them. The hue and 
cry always comes when it is too late. It is a condition 
which no legislator can for a moment defend. On gen¬ 
eral public measures he may justly say, that he is more 
the delegate than the agent of his constituents. On such 
measures as affect the entire people of the State, he may 
be justified in saying to his constituents, you have sent 
me here to use my best ability and my best judgment. I 
therefore defer to it and to nothing and to nobody else. 
But on a local matter he is the servant and not the auto¬ 
crat of his community. The present practice of the Leg¬ 
islature makes him the autocrat. As long as local bills 
continue to be passed in the manner I have indicated, the 
local legislator is king, and the whole business of local 
legislation is a farce. 

Now, the remedy is so simple that it seems strange it 
has not been applied before. We have tried it in Detroit 
during the past year with perfect success, and there is 
no reason why it should not be applied, with slight modi¬ 
fication, in every city and every legislative district. Our 
experience in Detroit is the only warrant I have for 
briefly addressing you at all upon this subject. As you 
may know, we were grave sufferers from “Ripper legis¬ 
lation” at the hands of the Legislature of 1901. The 
grip-sack manipulators, the long-distance telephone spe¬ 
cialists, and the right-on-the-spot lobbyists, were all in 
ample evidence. It was not the legislation itself that we 
so much objected to, it was the way it was done. 


90 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIA TION. [ 438 ] 


We like a bit of Home Rule in ours. Last year we 
had a city election, and as there was quite a fashion at 
that election for submitting special questions on refer¬ 
endum, one of the questions was, “Do you favor Home 
Rule for Detroit?” 8,876 voted yes, and 2,310 voted no; 
a majority of about four to one in favor of Home Rule. 
When one began to question the voters who had voted 
for Home Rule as to what they understood by Home 
Rule, to be sure, one received almost as many different 
answers as there were voters. Each one understood it 
in a different way. Those who voted against Home Rule 
were equally at variance. Each one misunderstood it in 
a different way. On one thing, however, they were all 
agreed: They wanted to be consulted on all matters of 
strictly local legislation. They wanted to have some say 
about it. 

Accordingly, with this strong feeling prevailing 
throughout the entire community of Detroit, almost the 
first thing that was done by the Common Council of 1903, 
which convened at the same time as the Legislature of 
that year, was the passage of a resolution, addressed to 
both Houses of the Legislature, asking that no local leg¬ 
islation affecting the City of Detroit or the County of 
Wayne should be acted upon unless it was clear that the 
same had been previously brought to the attention of the 
people through the medium of the Common Council. 
This resolution was couched in polite terms, so that it 
bore no mark of presumption, nor made itself otherwise 
liable to be unfavorably received. By its terms it was to 
be presented through the local legislators, but there was 
nothing in its language which could humiliate these leg¬ 
islators or impugn their ability or honesty. They pre¬ 
sented it, although on its very face it was a request that 
no attention should be paid to these same legislators when 
they presented local bills, unless those same bills had been 
before the public of Detroit for consideration. The Coun- 


[ 439 ] THE LEGISLATUEE AND LOCAL BILLS. 91 

cil did more. It appointed each Saturday morning during 
the session of the Legislature as a special time when cit¬ 
izens of Detroit could appear and be heard in regard to 
local legislation. The Council did still more. It dele¬ 
gated a committee of five of its members to be present 
at each of these meetings to conduct them and embody 
the results in proper minutes and reports. The Council 
did still one thing more. It invited the local legislators 
to attend the Saturday morning sessions. 

Now, what was the result of this? In the first place, 
the citizens came; what is in some respects more import¬ 
ant, the reporters came and the entire reading public 
knew the same day what legislative matters were up, 
what was brewing at Lansing. The legislators them¬ 
selves came. It was a sacrifice for men who left their bus¬ 
iness all week to be in Lansing, to leave their offices and 
shops on the one morning they had in Detroit, to attend 
these public sessions in the Council chamber, but they 
did it. For it they received at the end of the session, 
through the Council, the thanks of the public, and also 
the commendation of the press, both slight enough re¬ 
wards, compared with the reward presented by the clean 
local legislation which marked that session. There was 
no “Ripper legislation” last year. The word “Ripper” 
was not heard of except in a reminiscent way. There 
was just enough revulsion at ripperism in the Legislature 
of 1903 to guarantee the granting by it of the simple 
favor asked for by the Common Council of Detroit. 
Whenever a Detroit member arose to move the passage of 
a Detroit bill, particularly if the delegation were not fully 
agreed upon it, he would advance as his strongest argu¬ 
ment that the bill had been before the people of Detroit, 
heard before the tribunal established by the Common 
Council, and approved. It finally came to such a pass 
that as soon as a local Detroit bill came to its third read¬ 
ing, the question would be apt to be put at once by some 


92 MICHIGAN POLITIC AI SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [ 440 ] 

non-Detroit member, “Has this bill been before the De¬ 
troit Council ?” and it became impossible for such a meas¬ 
ure to be passed if it appeared that it had not been so 
submitted. The Council, you will understand, did not 
abuse its favor. It did not assume that its 34 members 
were wiser in their views on pending legislation than any 
other 34 citizens. But it did give the public a chance 
to be heard; it gave semi-public organizations like the 
Municipal League an opportunity to watch local bills; it 
prevented unconsidered and snap-shot legislation; it kept 
its local legislators in close touch with the people; it 
brought in legislative committees from Lansing for public 
hearings, instead of the old-fashioned way of a batch of 
interested Detroiters rushing out to Lansing generally to 
present only one side of a controversy. No local legis¬ 
lator dared withstand such procedure. 

It is safe to say that for the same reason this proced¬ 
ure has come to stay. Local Detroit legislation hereafter 
may be enacted at Lansing, but it will be first carefully 
considered right in Detroit. It is Home Rule instead of 
“Ripperism.” 

This procedure once established had many features 
which commended it to the local legislators themselves. 
I have already pointed out how greatly the rushing 
through of local bills is facilitated by the mutual policy 
among legislators of “you help me and Til help you.” 
Whenever it was proposed to put through a local bill 
which seemed to some of the delegation as undesirable, 
but which owing to the earner ad erie existing in the dele¬ 
gation, it seemed difficult, or personally unpleasant to 
oppose, it became an easy as well as the most natural 
thing in the world to put the responsibility on the public, 
to refer the bill to the Common Council. The same 
course would be taken with a desirable bill, which the 
local member might hesitate in pressing, because possibly 
its passage entailed the loss of some votes when he would 


[ 441 ] THE LEGISLATURE AND LOCAL BILLS . 


93 


come up for re-election. “Gentlemen, I am not at all 
committed to this bill,” the local member was in position 
to say to its opponents, “but, gentlemen, I am the serv¬ 
ant of the people and must accede to their desires. 
This bill has been referred to the Common Council of 
Detroit, just like all the local bills, so as to give the pub¬ 
lic a chance to be heard and to express their approval or 
condemnation of the measure; go and make your objec¬ 
tions before the public in Detroit. I feel myself obliged, 
as the public’s servant, to be guided by whatever they 
decide about it there.” During the last session of the 
Legislature several measures as important as they were 
undesirable, but which would otherwise have become 
laws, were effectually blocked in this manner. No one 
will blame the legislator for taking such a course. If 
they do, it will be a refreshing novelty to hear a Michi¬ 
gan legislator assailed for deferring on a local matter 
too greatly to local public opinion. Would that the en¬ 
tire Legislature were chronically guilty of the charge. 

I may state in passing, and as being of possible inter¬ 
est to you of other municipalities, that Home Rule in the 
sense of not passing any laws until the fullest opportunity 
has been given for public notice and public inquiry, has 
become strongly ingrained in the political fibre of our 
city. It is remarkable how easy it is to put the senti¬ 
ment into practical effect. For example, by the passage 
of a Council rule, which no one dared to oppose even if 
he had wished to, no franchise ordinance can be put on 
its final passage until it has lain on the table for thirty 
days. Delegates from Michigan cities, how many of 
your communities have suffered from franchises having 
been rushed through before reasonable opposition or 
righteous indignation could have its say? Do you know 
of any reason why you should not for the asking have 
that rule in your city? Do you know of any alderman 
who would oppose it, or opposing it would ever after dare 
offer himself for re-election? 


94 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [ 442 ] 


Similarly in taxing people for local improvements, we 
found there was great complaint because the people in 
street-opening assessment districts had no hearing in 
court, or in fact, anywhere else. The Council passed a 
rule which provided that no street should be ordered 
opened in court, unless the assessment district was first 
fixed by the Council, unless every property owner on it 
was sent a notice, and unless a public opportunity to ap¬ 
pear or to protest was given. No councilman opposed 
that rule. Indeed, everyone welcomed it. 

I recur to the Legislature. Do you not suppose the 
Legislature, or at least a majority of its members, would 
favor the application of just such procedure as we have 
followed during the past year in Detroit. I said at the 
outset that the remedy was as simple as the malady. Do 
you not believe that your local representative at Lansing 
would comply with your request that he permit no local 
bill to pass unless your Common Council be furnished 
with a copy, and a reasonable time be granted for the 
public to have its say ? Should your cities, your villages, 
townships and counties sit idly in the dark to be the 
chance target of every random legislative bullet, when by 
a simple request the local officials and the local public 
might see what is going on in clear open daylight. 

In conclusion, I go a step further. We in Detroit 
have had our bitter experience and have profited by it. 
During the past Legislature we have dwelt in safety. We 
have every reason to believe that the present procedure 
will remain unchanged, and that we shall continue to 
dwell in safety. How long will it be, gentlemen, if a few 
more cities and communities proffer a request similar to 
ours, before the Legislature will of its own accord enact 
a rule that no local legislation will be regarded in shape 
for consideration and for passage, unless it bears upon its 
face the credentials and the certificate that it is not an 
utter waif and stranger among its own people, but that 


[ 443 ] THE LEGISLATURE AND LOCAL BILLS . 


95 


it is a legitimate and acknowledged child of its own home. 

Such a rule would give safety to the people of the 
entire State. A preponderance of legislative sentiment 
would favor it. Governors tired of having their reputa¬ 
tions, as well as their midnight sleep, assailed would wel¬ 
come it. The man with the grip-sack would be the chief 
and the only mourner. 

Gentlemen, the remedy for the hitherto unending 
train of abuses in local legislation is, I firmly believe, to 
be had for the mere asking. 


DISCUSSION. 


SENATOR JAMES E. SCRIPPS, OF DETROIT. 

I would like to take occasion to endorse what Mr. 
Heineman has said upon the subject of legislation in this 
state. The process of legislation at Lansing is simply 
a farce. If there is anything dear to my heart it is that 
the next Legislature be truly an administrative body of 
men, and that a few needful bills may be passed, and 
the most pernicious practice of passing legislation with¬ 
out the members of the Legislature ever reading the bill 
may be discontinued. Bills have been passed that not 
even a committee has gone through. 


E. R. NELLIS, MAYOR OF WYANDOTTE. 

I desire to state that Wyandotte had an experience 
with the last Legislature which very forcibly illustrates 
the position taken by Mr. Heineman. We awoke one 
morning to the fact that the Legislature had passed a bill 
redistricting our city into four wards. The signature of 
the Governor was necessary to the validity of the bill; 





96 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [ 444 ] 

but before anything could be done, some promoter of the 
bill secured the signature of the Governor. Who are the 
authors of this bill has not yet been discovered. If they 
came out of their hiding place, like the proverbial ground 
hog, they would see their shadow and go back again. No 
city official knew that the bill was pending, and the public 
in general knew absolutely nothing about it. 


A DELEGATE. 

A similar case of hasty legislation came within my 
knowledge some twenty years ago. A charter was pre¬ 
sented by the promoter, and referred to a committee, and 
the report of the committee was filed the same day. It 
passed without reading and without objection in the 
Lower House, and the same process was gone through 
with in the Senate. It had gone through two committees, 
and was nominally read three different times in each 
House. The bill was sent to the Governor, and the pro¬ 
moter went with it and asked the Governor to sign it 
immediately, as it was desired to have it passed in time 
for the spring elections. It happened that it was a new 
Governor, and he made it a practice to read all bills pre¬ 
sented to him before he attached his signature. He read 
this bill and found that the City Council of Ispheming 
was authorized to license a house of ill-fame contrary to 
the established laws of the state, and contrary to all tra¬ 
ditions of the citizens of the state. 



MUNICIPAL HOME RULE: CITY CHARTERS 
FRAMED BY MUNICIPAL CONVENTIONS. 


BY DELOS F. WILCOX, SECRETARY OF THE CIVIC CLUB OF 
GRAND RAPIDS. 


The two most prolific causes of municipal corruption 
in America are, in my judgment: 

First, the hiatus that exists between laws upon the 
statute-book restraining and prohibiting certain forms of 
vice and the rules which the police actually enforce in 
these matters; and 

Second, the grant of special privileges in the streets 
to private persons and corporations. 

One of the remedies proposed for these and other 
evils is municipal home rule. “Home Rule” is a popular 
cry in cities, but it loses much of its possible force by 
being vague. It is the purpose of this paper to propose 
a definite program of local self-government suited to the 
cities of Michigan. 

This is no easy task; for a city is not a mere local 
subdivision of the State, with clearly-defined municipal 
interests entirely distinct from the interests of other sub¬ 
divisions. It is easy to say that every community should, 
under a free government, attend to its own affairs. But a 
city is more than a local unit; its “own affairs” are likely 
to involve the political, social and industrial interests of 
a wide-stretching section, or perhaps of the whole State. 
In these days of quick communication, rapid transporta¬ 
tion, constantly shifting population, and complex inter¬ 
ests, we can speak of our “own affairs” or of a city’s “own 
affairs” in a qualified sense only. Nevertheless the 




98 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [ 446 ] 


growth of cities accentuates local interests and transforms 
certain ordinary domestic problems into municipal prob¬ 
lems of the greatest importance. I need mention only 
water supply, drainage, street car transportation, and 
parks and play-grounds. It is principally with these 
enlarged local interests that municipal home rule has to 
do. 

There are four tolerably distinct phases of municipal 
home rule which we may briefly consider. These are: 

First, the local choice of the public officials who are 
to act as such in the locality; 

Second, the local determination of the forms of local 
government; 

Third, the local determination of the functions of 
local government; and 

Fourth, local control over local debt and taxation. 

i. The local choice of public officials who are to act 
locally is the characteristic feature of American local self- 
government. The right is pretty well guaranteed 
throughout the United States. It involves decentraliza¬ 
tion in administrative machinery, and often operates in 
practice as a local popular veto upon the enforcement of 
general laws. This is notoriously true of the laws regu¬ 
lating or prohibiting the liquor traffic and the vices of 
gambling and prostitution. This informal veto is, as I 
have indicated, a chief source of municipal corruption. 
It is a standing bribe to police blackmail. 

Michigan is particularly strong in local self-govern¬ 
ment of this kind. Judge Cooley, Judge Campbell, and 
other leading jurists have made Michigan famous by a 
line of decisions in which it has been held that the Legis¬ 
lature cannot take away from the people certain funda¬ 
mental rights of local self-government, not so much 
guaranteed by the State Constitution as lying back of it 
and presupposed by it. Article XV, Section 4, of the 
Constitution provides that 


[447] 


MUNICIPAL HOME RULE. 


99 


“Judicial officers of cities and villages shall be elected, 
and all other officers shall be elected or appointed, at such 
time and in such manner, as the Legislature may direct.” 

The court has held that this section, interpreted in 
the light of its history in the Constitutional Convention 
of 1850, and in the light of the local institutions existing 
in Michigan prior to 1850, does not permit the Legisla¬ 
ture to appoint, or authorize the Governor to appoint, 
strictly local officers, such as members of boards of public 
works or park commissions. It is also held that police 
commissioners and boards of health may be appointed 
by the central authority, but that in the case of police 
officers, if so appointed, they cannot be given exclusive 
jurisdiction in the place of constables, who are the local 
police officers of the townships. The logic of these de¬ 
cisions is tolerably clear. Certain functions directly in¬ 
volving the life and health of citizens, and the peace and 
good order of the cities are considered State functions, 
even though put into operation in localities only; and the 
officers exercising these functions may be appointed by 
the State authorities. This power has been exercised to a 
certain extent with reference to the city of Detroit. 
State-appointed boards of police, of health, and even of 
public works are not unknown in other parts of the coun¬ 
try. New York City, Boston, Baltimore, Cincinnati, 
Toledo, St. Louis, New Orleans, Denver and San Fran¬ 
cisco are some of the cities which have been at different 
times partly under the control of the State boards. The 
recent “ripper” legislation in Pennsylvania which gave 
the Governor the appointment of the Mayors (under the 
name of recorders) of Pittsburg, Allegheny and Scranton 
for a period of two years, is one of the most flagrant in¬ 
stances of the violation of the principle of local self- 
government in the choice of municipal officers. 

2. The second phase of municipal home rule is the 
local determination of the forms of local government. 


100 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [ 448 ] 


Of this we know little or nothing in Michigan. From 
time immemorial petty changes in charters have been 
made by the State Legislature, so that local acts form 
almost two-thirds of the bulk of legislation. I can do no 
better than quote the words of a delegate from Bay 
County in the Constitutional Convention of 1867, almost 
40 years ago. He said, “The gentleman says it takes but 
very little time for the passage of these laws; yet, he 
admits that when you come to publish them at last, two- 
thirds of the volumes of our Session Laws consist of leg¬ 
islation of this kind. Why is this? Because some one 
person interested in this matter sits down, writes out a 
charter, sends it to a member of the Legislature, who 
presents it, and it is referred to the Committee on Corpor¬ 
ations. That committee do not read.it or examine it; 
they ask the member who presents it, if it is all right? If 
he says it is, they then report it, and recommend its pas¬ 
sage ; nobody reads it, it passes, and goes to the Governor 
for his approval, and very likely he never reads it; if he 
does he is a very persevering man. * * * There are 

few members of the Legislature who can understand the 
necessities and wants of any particular village. They do 
not profess to know about it; they do not attempt to 
judge. If any act of incorporation which is presented 
suits the member from that locality, they do not consult 
anybody else about it. The people of the vicinity are not 
consulted, and often knows nothing about the charter pro¬ 
vided for them until the act is passed, and frequently not 
till some time afterwards. There was an act passed for 
our city last winter, but I could not get a copy of it until 
a week ago; no one could get it except those who pre¬ 
pared it.” 

The same system is still in vogue. We are conserva¬ 
tive in Michigan. We are slow to flee from well-tried 
and thoroughly proven evils to improvements that we 
know not of. There are two ways of attaining substan- 


[ 449 ] 


MUNICIPAL HOME RULE. 


101 


tial home rule in the forms of municipal organization. 
One is by the adoption of a general outline of municipal 
organization, leaving to the municipalities to fill in the 
scheme by ordinance; and the other is to give each city 
the right to frame its own charter by means of a charter 
convention and popular vote. The details of municipal 
organization necessarily vary according to the varying 
needs and functions of different cities. This fact is 
largely responsible for special legislation. Seldom does 
the Legislature attempt to force upon a city a charter to 
which the city is definitely opposed; never does the Leg¬ 
islature force local legislation through against protests, 
unless it is supported by some considerable interest in 
the locality itself. It is safe to say that the principles of 
home rule are never violated where the people of any par¬ 
ticular locality are unanimous. That is not saying much, 
for it would be a strange city where the people were all 
of one mind. The most common method of attempting 
to correct the evils of special legislation is by prohibiting 
it, as was done in Ohio in 1850, and has been done in 
half the States of the Union since. There is no chapter 
in American legislation that has revealed more wide¬ 
spread and hopeless stupidity than the attempt to avoid 
special legislation without granting home rule. Illinois 
enjoys the honorable distinction of being practically the 
only American commonwealth that has had the sense to 
depart from our old notion of the detailed enumeration 
of municipal powers when enacting general laws. The 
attempt to get rid of special legislation or to diminish its 
evils has generally proven a dismal failure. 

In certain States, however, the Constitutions have been 
so amended as to guarantee to cities the right to frame 
their own charters. These States are Missouri, California, 
Washington, Minnesota and Colorado. Oregon also has 
taken the preliminary steps looking to the adoption of 
the charter convention system. So far as I am aware, the 


102 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [450J 

municipal charter convention had its origin in New York 
City in the early part of the nineteenth century, where it 
was used, without special legislative authority, to draft 
charter amendments to be presented to the Legislature for 
enactment. 

There are now five cities in the United States with a 
population of more than 100,000 each of which are liv¬ 
ing under charters framed by local conventions or com¬ 
missions. These are St. Louis, Kansas City, St. Paul, 
San Francisco and Los Angeles. Three others, St. 
Joseph, Minneapolis and Denver, have authority to frame 
their own charters, and the last two have attempted to 
exercise it, the charters failing at the polls. 

In Missouri the right locally to frame the municipal 
charter is limited to cities of 100,000 population; the 
charter must be approved by four-sevenths of the citizens 
voting thereon; and may be amended from time to time 
by a three-fifths affirmative vote. The charter becomes 
the law of the city, but is subject to the Constitution and 
laws of the State. In California all cities with 3,500 pop¬ 
ulation may frame their own charters; but the charters 
must be sent to the Legislature for approval or rejection 
without amendment. Already fifteen California cities 
have secured charters in this way. These charters now 
exclude legislative interference, not being subject even 
to general legislation in municipal affairs. In Washing¬ 
ton the right to frame their own charters is limited to 
cities of 20,000, and the charters so framed are subject 
to general laws. In Minnesota the right extends to all 
cities, but in every case the charter must be adopted by a 
four-sevenths vote, and is subject to State laws, applicable 
to not less than all of the cities of a class. The first class 
as fixed by the Constitution, now includes three cities. 
Two of these, St. Paul and Duluth, as well as several 
small cities, have framed their own charters. According 
to a new home rule amendment adopted in Colorado, 


[ 451 ] MUNICIPAL HOME RULE, 103 

cities may frame their own charters, and the charters are 
not subject to State laws at all. It is to be presumed, 
however, that all legislative enactments of a general 
nature, not directly touching municipal affairs, will still 
be operative in Colorado cities. 

The National Municipal League program gives the 
right to frame its own charter to every city of 25,000 
population. 

In Michigan, under the present Constitution, cities 
have no right to frame their own charters, and the Legis¬ 
lature cannot delegate them that right. In the case of 
Elliott vs. the City of Detroit 1 , it was held that the initi¬ 
ative and referendum act of 1899 was unconstitutional. 
The Legislature sought to give the people of Detroit the 
right to amend the city’s charter, either on proposals made 
by the Mayor and the Common Council, or by petitions 
of 5,000 citizens. It was held that the Legislature could 
not make such a general grant of power to a city. 

3. The third phase of municipal home rule is the right 
locally to determine the scope of municipal functions. 
This right is not widely recognized except as it is in¬ 
cluded in the right of a city to frame its own charter. 
The most significant question involved here is the munic¬ 
ipal ownership or control of public utilities. Illinois 
cities have lately been given authority to settle their own 
policy in regard to the street railway system, and many 
cities in various parts of the country are authorized to go 
into the electric lighting business. 

In Michigan, under our present Constitution, the Leg¬ 
islature seems to have no authority to grant full munici¬ 
pal home rule in regard to street railway franchises. The 
leading case on this point is that of Attorney General vs. 
Pingree 2 , known as the Detroit street railway case. 

4. The fourth and last phase of municipal home rule 


1 121 Mich. 611. 

*120 Mich. 550. 



104 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [452] 

is the right locally to levy taxes and incur debt. In our 
own State the Legislature is expressly directed to “pro¬ 
vide for the incorporation and organization of cities and 
villages” and to “restrict their powers of taxation, bor¬ 
rowing money, contracting debts and loaning their 
credit.” 

It is the case generally throughout the United States 
that cities are limited by constitutional provisions or leg¬ 
islative enactments in their taxing and debt-creating 
activities. 

Summing up the discussion, let us see if we can find 
the principles on which rational home rule is founded. In 
order to do away with the hiatus between law and law- 
enforcement, it is primarily necessary that the legislative 
and the executive branches of the government should be 
ultimately responsible to the will of the same body of 
citizens. We must do away with the tangles in our ma¬ 
chinery, arising from the fact that a State Legislature 
enacts laws which are enforced by purely local officers, 
or which even apply to localities only. While holding 
fast to the principle of the local choice of local officers, 
we ought to give the central administration a fuller con¬ 
trol over the enforcement of State laws, and on the other 
hand, we ought to recognize in legislation all legitimate 
social differences. For example, the hours in which 
saloons shall be open may reasonably be considered a 
local problem. Within certain limits it is already recog¬ 
nized as such in Michigan cities. Why not make Sunday 
opening optional by localities ? A second principle to be 
followed is that all monopoly services which are created by 
the conditions of city life, should be, and remain abso¬ 
lutely subject to the will of the city in every genera¬ 
tion. This precludes the grant of perpetual franchises, 
and necessitates the fullest power of local autonomy in the 
determination of local function^. A third principle is 
that every city should be authorized, within certain broad 


[ 453 ] 


MUNICIPAL HOME RULE. 


105 


general lines, to organize its own government to suit its 
local experience and its local needs. A fourth principle is 
that in matters of taxation and the creation of debt, every 
city should have the right to exercise its own judgment 
within such limits as the State may prescribe for its own 
protection. 

With these principles in view I suggest amending the 
Constitution of Michigan, so that every city of 10,000 
population will have authority to frame its own charter, 
determine its own functions, and levy its taxes as it sees 
fit, subject only to the Constitution of the State and such 
general laws as apply to all the people of the State. It may 
be wise to give the Legislature authority by a two-thirds 
vote, with the concurrence of the Governor, to impose a 
limit upon municipal indebtedness in any particular city, 
or to make general municipal laws applicable to particular 
cities. 

The believers in local charter conventions do not claim 
that model charters will result from this system. It is 
practically imposible to get a model charter enacted under 
any system; and if enacted for some city, like Philadel¬ 
phia, where political life is sodden with indifference and 
the spirit of graft, the model charter will amount to little. 
The only salvation of a city from the standpoint of mu¬ 
nicipal government is in the intelligent consideration of 
its own problems by its own citizens. Home rule has for 
its aim not only to secure local rights, but to enforce local 
duties and develop local intelligence. In this country the 
further we put government away from the people who 
are to live under it the worse off we get. Absence of 
power begets indifference, and that is father to ignorance. 
No step can safely be taken in an American city in the 
direction of subordinating the deliberate will of the peo¬ 
ple in matters primarily concerning them, to the will of 
some few or of some other people who know nothing 
about the interests involved. 


106 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [ 454 ] 


Municipal charters framed by home rule methods 
must not be confounded with books of ordinances enacted 
by Common Councils. Charters are to the city like con¬ 
stitutions to the State, and are framed only by conven¬ 
tions or commissions chosen especially for the purpose. 
All charters and amendments are ratified by the people. 

I suggest the following outline amendments to the 
Constitution of Michigan to embody the principles here 
advocated: 

Amend Article IV, Section 33, so that the Legislature 
may confer upon townships, counties, and villages a grant 
of local authority by general laws only, and not necessar¬ 
ily enumerate the powers granted. 

Amend Article XV, Section 13, so that it will read: 

“The Legislature shall provide for the creation and organization 
of municipal corporations by general laws, and no such general laws 
shall be made applicable to less than all of the villages, school dis¬ 
tricts, or cities of the State, but cities which choose to frame their 
own charters under the provisions of this constitution shall be exempt 
from control in their local and municipal affairs by such general 
laws, unless such laws are made applicable to them by special vote 
of the Legislature, as provided elsewhere in this constitution. Every 
city, whether organized under the general laws or under a locally 
adopted charter, shall be endowed with all local legislative and 
administrative powers necessary to the protection of the inhabitants 
of the city and the promotion of the city’s welfare, but the Legis¬ 
lature may, notwithstanding the provisions of this section, impose a 
limit upon the municipal indebtedness of any or all cities by a two- 
thirds vote of all the members elected to each house, with the con¬ 
currence of the Governor, whenever the interests of the State at 
large demand it, but such limit may be raised or removed by abso¬ 
lute majority vote of the Legislature.” 

Substitute for Article XV, Section 14, the following: 

“In every city there shall be a Mayor and council elected by 
popular vote. The Mayor shall be the chief executive officer of the 
city and general head of the municipal administration. The council 
shall be the sole legislative body of the city, except that the veto 
power may be conferred upon the Mayor, and legislative measures 


[455] 


MUNICIPAL HOME RULE. 


107 


proposed by resolution of the council or by petition of citizens may 
be referred to the people in accordance with rules which may be 
laid down in the general municipal laws or in the charter of any 
city, and the board of education may be given legislative powers in 
matters pertaining to the public schools. All other municipal officers 
shall be elected or appointed as may be determined from time to 
time by the general municipal laws and locally adopted city charters, 
but in all cases subordinate officials in the administrative service of 
cities shall be appointed on account of fitness for their positions, 
such fitness to be determined without reference to political or 
religious beliefs by practical examinations, which shall be, so far as 
possible, open and competitive. The general laws for the incorpora¬ 
tion of cities and all locally adopted city charters shall contain 
specific provisions for carrying into effect the merit system of 
appointment as herein provided.” 

Make a new Section—Article XV, Section 17: 

“Any city containing a population of 10,000 or more may frame 
its own charter in the following manner: The council of such city 
may, of its own accord, and must, on the properly certified petition 
of at least two per cent, of the qualified voters of the city (but in no 
case shall the number be less than 200), provide for a special elec¬ 
tion at which a board of not less than, five or more than twenty-five 
citizens and taxpayers of the city shall be chosen to prepare a draft 
of a city charter which shall be submitted to the people of the city, 
and if approved by a 55 per cent, affirmative vote of all voters voting 
thereon, shall become the organic law of such city, and shall super¬ 
sede all charters and amendments thereof and all general or special 
laws governing local and municipal affairs, so far as such city is 
concerned, unless disapproval by the State Legislature at its next 
regular session by a two-thirds vote of all the members elected to 
each house, with the concurrence of the Governor. Every such 
charter shall prescribe a method by which it may be amended by the 
voters of the city, but such amendments shall not be submitted to 
the people oftener than once in two years, and shall be subject to 
disapproval by the State Legislature in the same way as original 
charters. If at any time after such locally adopted charter has 
become law, the Legislature of the State shall deem it necessary in 
the interests of the State at large, to amend such charter so as to 
make the general laws of the State concerning local and municipal 
affairs applicable to such city, in whole or in part, it may do so by 
special act by a two-thirds affirmative vote of all the members elected 
to each house. Provided, that copies of such proposed measure shall 


108 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [ 456 ] 


be forwarded to the Mayor and Clerk of such city, and an adequate 
opportunity shall be given to the municipal authorities of such city 
and the citizens thereof, to appear before the legislative committee 
or committees having such measure in charge and be heard in regard 
to it. It shall be the duty of the Clerk of such city, upon receiving 
a copy of any such measure, to present it to the council of such city 
at its next session and cause it to be published in full in the official 
proceedings thereof, and such measure shall not be finally voted 
upon by the Legislature until thirty days after such publication. The 
Governor shall have an absolute veto upon all such special acts, and 
they may be repealed at any time, and at any time not less than two 
years after any such special act becomes effective, any such city may 
readopt the provision of its charter abrogated by such special act, or 
may adopt other provisions relating to the same subject, but such 
provisions shall be in the form of charter amendments and take the 
regular course provided for the same in this section. Any city 
having adopted a charter in accordance with the provisions of this 
section may, by charter amendment, provide for the consolidation of 
the school district of the city with the city corporation, and in that 
case shall establish a department of education to exercise control 
over the public schools of the city. The Legislature, by general law, 
subject to the provisions of this section, shall determine the proced¬ 
ure of cities in framing their own charters in the first instance, and 
every such charter shall be framed in accordance with, and subject 
to, the provisions of this constitution.” 

Make a new Section—Article XV, Section 18, em¬ 
bodying the program of the National Municipal League, 
in regard to franchises and authorizing cities to acquire 
and operate any or all public utilities, subject to the de¬ 
cision of the people of the city 1 . 

Amend Article XIV, Section n, which requires a 
uniform rule of taxation, so as to leave it optional with 
the State Legislature to separate the sources of State and 
local revenue, and so as to give every city the right to 
home rule in taxation. 


*A Municipal Program, pp. 177 , 195 . 



MERIT IN MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION. 


BY SHERMAN D. CALLENDER, OF THE DETROIT MUNICIPAL 
LEAGUE. 


The writer is conscious that discussion of this sub¬ 
ject will be of value in proportion as it speaks from offi¬ 
cial experience on the one hand, or thoughtful study and 
observation on the other. Never having held or sought 
municipal office, no claim can be made to the wisdom 
which is supposed to come from official experience, and 
which is the valued possession of many present. The 
conclusions here reached must therefore rest finally upon 
the recorded experience of others, supplemented by such 
facts as may be adduced, and the candid impressions upon 
my own mind after a somewhat careful investigation. 

What do we mean by “Merit in Municipal Adminis¬ 
tration?” It is not entirely a matter for mathematical 
demonstration, or which can be stated by exact statistics 
or figures, but its meaning to each one must depend some¬ 
what upon his civic ideals as well as his own ideas of the 
functions of municipal government. 

We are hearing much discussion these days as to the 
proper sphere of municipal activities—whether the city 
should run street cars, operate telephones, electric light 
plants, gas plants, and other public service utilities ? This 
is a subject upon which the best minds may honestly disa¬ 
gree, but whether or not the volume of municipal work 
is to be increased, there can be no question but that what¬ 
ever is done should be performed capably, honestly and 
economically. If this is true, it follows that we are all 




110 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [458] 


interested in a consideration of the conditions under 
which this desirable result is most liable to obtain. We 
are here concerned not with municipal legislation, but 
with municipal administration, not what shall be done, 
but how shall it be done. Given a charter by which the 
various kinds of municipal work are under the control 
of different officers or boards, by what system shall this 
work be done so as to produce the best results for the 
people? Are the same standards applicable in municipal 
as in private work? If not, is there a reason? Is there 
a remedy? These, I take it, are legitimate subjects for 
inquiry in the consideration of this topic. 

Fifty years ago, when a much smaller percentage of 
our people lived in cities, the question of how municipal 
work was done was of very much less consequence, but 
so vast has become the volume, and so complex the char¬ 
acter of city business to-day, that in every municipality 
of considerable size, the safety, the health, the happiness, 
the education, and the pocket-books of the people are 
very greatly concerned in the manner of municipal ad¬ 
ministration. 

Like any private concern a municipal corporation 
must do its work by employees. How, and by whom 
shall they be employed ? By what means shall their quali¬ 
fications be ascertained? What shall be the nature of 
their tenure ? 

Here we need to consider the character of municipal 
office, and the two opposing conceptions which seem to 
obtain concerning it. The one idea, by far too prevalent, 
is that public office when once obtained is a private estate, 
to be administered for the sole benefit of the occupant 
and his personal or partisan hustlers to whom he owes 
election. This idea was forcibly declared by William 
Tweed many years ago, when he said it was “the privi¬ 
lege of an office-holder to get as much as possible from 
the public treasury for himself and his friends.” The 


[459] MERIT IN MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION. Ill 

other idea was forcibly stated, and in many respects splen¬ 
didly exemplified, by Grover Cleveland, when he insisted 
that “Public Office is a Public Trust.” I venture the 
statement that there are none present who would not 
agree that the latter, and not the former, is the proper 
conception of any public office. We all accept the state¬ 
ment, but what has been the actual practice in the history 
of municipal administration in this country? Has the 
merit principle been recognized in public as in private 
business? 

In the early days of the Republic this question would 
doubtless have been answered in the affirmative, for the 
reason that the volume of public business was small and, 
for the more vital reason, that those who had suffered 
and sacrificed for the establishment of democratic insti¬ 
tutions in this country, believed government existed not 
for conferring favors and privileges, but as an institution 
to be served by those most fit to serve, and for the sole 
benefit of the collective whole. Selfish partyism was then 
considered undesirable. On this subject Washington, 
in his farewell address, used these words: “Let me warn 
you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects 
of the spirit of party,” whose “common and continual 
mischiefs are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of 
a wise people to discourage and restrain it.” Thomas 
Jefferson asked of him who would do public work, not 
“what is his party, or who is his friend?” but “is he hon¬ 
est ; is he capable ? is he loyal to the Constitution ?” 

In Jackson’s time came the infamous doctrine: “To 
the victor belong the spoils of office.” Among those who 
sounded the alarm against such a doctrine was Daniel 
Webster, who then used language which we may well 
recall at the beginning of this new century. In 1832 he 
said, “The same party selfishness which drives good men 
out of office will push bad men in. Political proscription 
leads necessarily to the filling of offices with incompetent 


112 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION [460] 


persons, and to a consequent mal-execution of official 
duties. And in my opinion, this principle of claiming 
monopoly of office by the right of conquest, unless the 
public shall effectually rebuke and restrain it, will effectu¬ 
ally change the character of our government. It elevates 
party above country; it forgets the common weal in the 
pursuit of personal emolument; it tends to form, it does 
form, we see that it has formed, a political combination 
united by no common principles or opinions among its 
members, either upon the powers of the government or 
the true policy of the country, but held together simply as 
an association, under the charm of a popular head, seek¬ 
ing to obtain possession of the government by a vigorous 
exercise of its patronage, and for this purpose agitating 
and alarming and distressing social life by the exercise 
of a tyrannical party proscription. Sir, if this course of 
things cannot be checked, good men will grow tired of 
the exercise of political privileges. They will see that 
such elections are but a mere selfish contest for office, and 
they will abandon the government to the scramble of the 
bold, the daring, and the desperate.” Henry Clay and 
John C. Calhoun were also among those who at that time 
condemned the spoils policy. 

The problem then uppermost in the minds of people 
were national, and it was natural that those whose fathers 
had fought for a government of equal rights and exact 
justice, should sound the alarm against a practice so 
opposed as the spoils system to the spirit of our early 
institutions. From Jackson’s time until after the Civil 
War, the relation of the states to the Federal government 
was of prime consideration. During that period little 
attention was given to matters of municipal policy, and 
less to matters of municipal administration. The logical 
result was municipal government so generally corrupt, 
inefficient and expensive, that close students of the sub¬ 
ject pointed to it as the most conspicuous failure of our 


[461] MERIT IN MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION. 113 


experiment in democracy. The result was a more or less 
vigorous awakening of interest in the manner of munici¬ 
pal administration, and for the past fifteen years, it will 
be admitted that there has been an increasing interest in 
the study of this subject. What has this study revealed ? 

In most cases it has shown cities governed largely by 
party considerations, and with reference to state and 
national rather than to local affairs. Standards of service 
have been adopted and adhered to which would not be 
tolerated for a moment in any successful private business. 
Tenure of service has been dependent, not upon faithful 
devotion to public duty, but upon compliance with private 
instructions and in obedience to the dictate of what has 
become widely known as the “regular organization/’ 
Municipal campaigns have been fought on national rather 
than local issues, and the city’s patronage has been made 
a valuable consideration with which the local boss has 
purchased favors for himself and his friends, in the polit¬ 
ical market-place of State and Federal politics. The ap¬ 
peal has been made—to men of conscience and intelli¬ 
gence, to “vote straight and sustain the party”—to men 
of ignorance and greed, “to follow the leader and get a 
job.” This appeal has been so remarkably successful 
that many of our so-called good citizens have ceased both 
interest and activity in municipal affairs, and charge 
those aggressively active in city campaigns with nothing 
less than mercenary motives. With much loud clamor 
in the interests of the “dear people,” and often under the 
guise of reform, a machine is builded of what the public 
understands to be a popular political policy, and the boss 
has a short cut to public office, power, patronage and 
wealth. 

It is needless here to dwell upon details. That these 
conditions exist quite generally will not be denied by 
those who frequent the by-paths of municipal politics. It 
is not my desire, however, to paint only the dark side of 


114 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [462] 


the picture. We are not to understand that the merit 
principle has been entirely overlooked in the appointment 
and promotion of subordinates in municipal administra¬ 
tion. Not every State and not every city has been indif¬ 
ferent. In this, as in many reforms of the past, we may 
well look to the east, and especially to the grand old State 
of Massachusetts. As early as 1884 the Bay State 
adopted a measure having for its purpose the elimination 
so far as possible of the spoils system in State and local 
affairs. The Empire State, when Theodore Roosevelt 
was governor and largely through his efforts, enacted a 
law which established not only a State civil service com¬ 
mission but a civil service commission for every muni¬ 
cipality of the State, with authority to make rules and 
regulations governing the classified service, to prohibit 
political assessments or solicitations and to prevent any 
political or religious tests whatever. Reports from these 
States, except from the professional politicians, indicate 
that much good is resulting from these laws and the rules 
adopted in compliance with them. 

Nearly ten years ago the city of Chicago by a direct 
vote adopted the merit system by a majority of fifty thou¬ 
sand, and San Francisco by a very large majority a little 
later. There is little doubt that the movement for estab¬ 
lishing the merit principle is growing in various cities and 
States, and seems to be so clearly in the interests of the 
people as a whole that it is sure to be more generally 
recognized with the growth of political intelligence and 
civic sense. 

Even in Ohio, where politics is a continuous perform¬ 
ance and, as some one has said, a requirement for admis¬ 
sion to any of the learned professions, the merit principle 
has been to some extent recognized in the recently 
adopted municipal code. Here we notice a distinction 
which is made by custom if not by law in many other 
States and cities. I refer to the civil service rules opera- 


[463] MERIT IN MUNICIPAL A D MINIS TEA TION. 115 


tive in the fire and police departments. In matters of 
public safety, by sheer force of popular sentiment the 
merit principle is recognized. The Ohio code provides 
that “The Police and Fire Departments in every city shall 
be maintained upon the merit system.” This means that 
the people of Ohio would not countenance the spoils idea 
in matters of protection to person and property. What¬ 
ever may be said of other features of the Ohio code, this 
provision is certainly to be commended. 

Nor is the merit principle overlooked in these depart¬ 
ments of municipal government in our own State. In 
Detroit, at least, employees of the Fire Department are 
not dismissed with a change of administration, neither 
are policemen made to walk the plank. It may be that 
under existing rules politics has something to do with 
obtaining appointment in the first instance, but once ap¬ 
pointed, it is believed that efficient service in these depart¬ 
ments generally insures the employee's tenure. If the 
merit principle is violated in these departments, it is in 
obedience to a personal boss and receives the condemna¬ 
tion of the rank and file of both parties. 

But when we leave the departments of fire and police, 
where there is none too much of the merit principle, and 
consider public works, parks and boulevards and other 
fields of municipal activity, we find the spoils principle 
in full operation, and the victorious party or individual 
feels at perfect liberty to “turn the gang out” and put 
others in its place, not because of greater efficiency, but 
for the purpose of giving part of their time and a per¬ 
centage of their salaries in preparation for and support 
of the administration at the next election. 

As a sample of this condition in Detroit, under a late 
commissioner of public works, there was evidence that a 
certain man was kept on the pay roll of the city for 
months, while his only public service consisted in caring 
for half a dozen fighting cocks, the private property of 


116 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [464] 

the public works commissioner and the boss who had 
gotten him his job. When questioned as to the nature of 
his tenure, this public servant facetiously said that he 
could draw his pay “without working for the city as long 
as the present commissioner holds office.'’ My associate 
in the legal profession having for collection a bill against 
a gentleman employed by the city on a good salary was, 
a few months ago, met with the frank acknowledgment 
that he could not pay the bill at that time for the reason 
that “I had to put up my first three months’ pay to get my 
job.” Merit in municipal administration? Is it any 
wonder that taxation for municipal purposes in Michigan 
is on the increase, being twenty-five per cent more than 
five years ago ? 

Is there anything more debauching to municipal ad¬ 
ministration than to have public funds applied to payment 
for services rendered a private individual or a political 
party? We condemn such practice where the service 
concerns our personal safety. Why should we not, with 
equal severity, condemn it in other kinds of municipal 
service? Is the merit system desirable only in the con¬ 
duct of the police and fire departments? Common sense 
and experience in all great private enterprises teaches that 
merit is the principle to be applied in every instance where 
results commensurate with expenditure are expected. 
But how, it is asked, is the principle to be applied, and 
here arises the ever difficult question of method. 

Doubtless the two most conspicuous examples of the 
benefits of the merit system are found in the classified 
federal service and that of the old Bay State. In both 
cases a system of competitive examinations is provided, 
tests are made practical, religious and political interroga¬ 
tories prohibited, and employment and promotion made 
to depend upon ascertained merit. There have been diffi¬ 
culties, as there always is, in the application of any new 
system, but experience has to a large extent solved those 


[465] MERIT IN MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION. 


117 


difficulties. The notion that the merit system is some 
mysterious scheme by which society is to be divided into 
groups and by which the government is to confer special 
favors upon college and university graduates has been 
exploded, for, according to Commissioner Foulke, up¬ 
wards of eighty per cent of those who now hold positions 
in the classified federal service have not been educated 
beyond the common schools. Manifestly it would be non¬ 
sense to examine men who are to be janitors, truant offi¬ 
cers or mere clerks in subjects that make up the college 
curriculum. As pointed out by President Roosevelt, civil 
service examinations should be, and are, where the system 
has been thoroughly adopted, so arranged as to determine 
the applicant's fitness for doing the particular work re¬ 
quired. 

Where common sense rules have been put in opera¬ 
tion and the system given a fair chance, desirable results 
have followed. According to reports of officers of the 
navy, the cost of building war-ships in the Brooklyn navy 
yard was reduced 25 per cent, by the merit rules the 
first year they were put into effect. In the office of the 
Commissioner of Immigration at Washington, more than 
$75,000 per year was saved by the abolition of useless pos¬ 
itions when the Federal merit rules were applied. Hon. 
Carroll D. Wright estimates that two million dollars and 
more than a year’s time would have been saved if the cen¬ 
sus force had been put under the classified service, and 
he further remarks that “one-third of the amount ex¬ 
pended under my administration was absolutely wasted 
and principally because the office was not under Civil 
Service rules.” Since the beginning of President Roose¬ 
velt’s administration a large part of the offices here re¬ 
ferred to by Mr. Wright have been put under the classi¬ 
fied service. 

The growing sentiment for an enlarged field of munic¬ 
ipal activity in Michigan emphasizes the importance of 


118 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION [466] 


first establishing in this State the merit principle in the 
conduct of city affairs. What has been done in this direc¬ 
tion? The writer is not aware that a general State bill 
for establishing the merit system has at any time been 
presented to the State Legislature. There have been 
several local bills presented to that body having for their 
object to establish merit rules in some of the cities of the 
State. Detroit has had some experience in this matter. 

A bill similar to the Chicago law was introduced in 
the Lower House in 1899 by Representative David E. 
Heineman, referred to a committee, but for lack of organ¬ 
ized support, was never seriously considered. In 1901 
Representative J. E. Bland, of Detroit, introduced, at the 
request of the Detroit Municipal League, another and 
less radical measure, embracing some of the features of 
the Massachusetts law. This was referred to a commit¬ 
tee, printed and discussed to some extent, but the so- 
called Detroit ripper bills put through by the majority of 
the Wayne delegation at that session of the Legislature 
were so opposed to the merit system in principle and pur¬ 
pose, that no one could expect the same Legislature to 
enact both. For any statesman to have given approval 
to measures so inconsistent would have been just grounds 
for questioning his mental balance. At the fall election 
two years ago, the Detroit Municipal League made this 
question one of the issues of the campaign, asking of can¬ 
didates for the Legislature and the Common Council their 
position concerning it. The interest expressed was in 
many cases surprising. After election a bill applying 
only to Detroit was prepared. It was taken up by the 
Common Council Committee on Charter, of which Aider- 
man David E. Heineman was the efficient chairman, and 
upon recommendation of his committee, the Council 
passed by a unanimous vote a resolution calling upon the 
Legislature to enact a law, which provided for a Civil 
Service Commission in Detroit, with power to adopt rules 


[467] MERIT IN MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION. lit) 


establishing the merit system, prohibiting political assess¬ 
ments, and forbidding any political or religious tests for 
service in any of the administrative departments of the 
municipality. Whether all of the city fathers were really 
desirous that such a bill be enacted, thus limiting their 
patronage, may be a subject for conjecture, but that a 
majority were desirous of minimizing the spoils policy 
in our municipal affairs will not be denied. Why should 
not an alderman or any other official who has regard for 
his trust, welcome any law or any system which offers 
reasonable prospect of relieving him of the wearying 
demands of the pestiferous job-seeker? 

After this favorable action of the Common Council, 
the Wayne legislative delegation held a caucus on this 
measure, and voted to support it. It was introduced 
by Representative D. M. Ferry, and under all these fav¬ 
orable circumstances, there was certainly some reason to 
expect that it might become a law, especially when there 
was tacked on to it at the last moment a referendum clause 
to make sure that if the aldermen had misrepresented 
their constituents in the matter, the people might have a 
chance to reject this ‘‘monstrous system’’ by a popular 
vote. The measure passed the lower house during the 
closing days of the session, but it was not looked upon 
with favor by that cautious and dignified safeguard of our 
liberties, the State Senate. 

The writer has never been an enthusiast on this 
subject, and is perfectly aware that our statute books 
already contain many chapters of what is merely “decor¬ 
ative phrase,” laws on various subjects which reflect no 
real desire among the people, are never enforced, and for 
that reason should never have been enacted. As a people 
we are fond of seeing our goodness in print, and when 
we compare our statutory virtue with our every-day col¬ 
lective practice we must admit a condition of civic hypoc¬ 
risy by no means laudable. A policy of legislation or 


120 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [468] 


administration not approved by thinking people, nor 
founded in justice and equity, is never to be desired, but 
the merit system has demonstrated its practicability in 
other places and should be given a fair trial in Michigan. 
Why? 

Because it is right in principle, and recognized in 
successfully managed private undertakings; because the 
greater volume of municipal administration does not dif¬ 
fer in kind from the work of vast private enterprises; 
because public office is a public trust, and by the funda¬ 
mental rules of equity, should not be used for the personal 
profit of the trustee, but for the sole good of the cestui que 
trust, the public; because the spoils policy corrupts both 
the office-holder and job-seeker, destroys popular respect 
for public office, converts the party into a machine for 
serving private ends, and makes politics merely a 
scramble for jobs. The merit system should be extended 
in Michigan cities because, if it is good in fighting fires 
or quelling riots, it should be equally good in sweeping 
streets, inspecting pavements, and caring for parks; 
because wherever it has been thoroughly tested, it has 
produced commendable results; because the system once 
adopted and understood has in every instance been 
approved by the people; because it is adapted to the com¬ 
plex and enlarging field of municipal activity; because 
as President Cleveland said ten years ago, “Its faithful 
application and reasonable expansion remain the subjects 
of deep interest to all who really desire the best attain¬ 
able public service.” And finally, the system should be 
established and extended because in the recent words of 
President Roosevelt to Congress, it is “as democratic and 
American as the common school system itself.” 


UNIFORM MUNICIPAL ACCOUNTING. 


BY CHARLES CARROLL BROWN, M. AM., SOC. C. E., 
CONSULTING ENGINEER, INDIANAPOLIS, IND. 


The cause of uniformity in municipal accounting is 
making such rapid strides that it is almost necessary that 
some account of stock be taken every year, and it seems 
to fall to the lot of the writer for the Committee on Uni¬ 
form Municipal Reports and on National Statistics of 
the American Society of Municipal Improvements, and 
of M. N. Baker for a similar committee of the National 
Municipal League to make these periodical statements. 

It is hardly necessary to present to such a body as 
this the arguments in favor of the proposition, that mu¬ 
nicipal accounts should have as great uniformity in mat¬ 
ter and form as the varying legislation of States will 
permit, and such as will be presented will therefore be 
found to appear incidentally to the statement of the ad¬ 
vances which have been made. 

The term municipal accounting has become rather in¬ 
definite, and has been applied to a number of related mat¬ 
ters which are rather dependent upon the forms of account¬ 
ing than actually belonging to systems of accounting. The 
differences will be seen by a simple statement of the vari¬ 
ous projects which have been considered by the various 
interested municipal authorities and the various societies 
interested in municipal betterment. 

Perhaps the most elaborate provision for the control 
of municipal accounting is the Uniform Public Account¬ 
ing Law of the State of Ohio, which was passed May 10, 
1902. This act creates a bureau of inspection and super- 




122 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [470] 


vision of public offices, and provides for the establish¬ 
ment of uniform systems of public accounting, auditing 
and reporting. 

It provides that separate accounts shall be kept of 
every appropriation or fund established, and what these 
accounts shall show. It also requires separate accounts 
for each department, public improvement, undertaking, 
institution and public service industry, and the proper 
charges and credits between these various accounts, so 
that each shall always be kept separate from all the 
others, each shall show all receipts and expenditures, 
including those from other public funds, and balances of 
funds and appropriations shall be returned to the general 
fund from which originally appropriated, so that the 
responsibility for expenditures will always be definitely 
placed, and there will be no concealment of outgo under 
the cover of confusing transfers and re-transfers of 
moneys from one subordinate fund to another. 

This portion of the law is intended to clear up the 
various funds of the municipality, township, county or 
State, and prevent the mystification of accounts which so 
frequently results, purposely or accidentally, by the use 
of balances of ample appropriations in some departments 
to fill deficiencies in others. It is a most important step 
toward the simplification of accounts and toward ease in 
auditing them, as well as toward making it easy for any 
interested taxpayer to examine them and trace the details 
of expenditures and determine their propriety. 

The act further provides for an annual examination 
of all such accounts by the State bureau, and prescribes 
the method of procedure in case misfeasance or mal¬ 
feasance is discovered. 

These provisions put all the accounts of all the taxing 
bodies in the State under the supervision of a State author¬ 
ity, and presumably put a check upon all expenditures, 
for, while the State bureau does not have any authority 


[471] 


UNIFORM MUNICIPAL ACCOUNTING. 


123 


over the appropriations or over the expenditures under 
them, it can determine whether the expenditures are made 
according to the appropriating ordinances, and is thus 
able, in a considerable degree, to check dishonesty in the 
officials intrusted with the expenditure of the money, and 
what has been found still more important, it can prevent 
the equally great losses of money from defective account¬ 
ing methods of incompetent officials, both by educating 
them in methods of keeping accounts and by practically 
compelling them to secure competent assistance. 

The foregoing requirements in the law are of the 
utmost importance, and the experience of the first year 
of the bureau, though not yet in full working order, was 
that the cost of maintaining the bureau and the special 
examiners under it, was a very small percentage of the 
saving made by stopping leaks which were not suspected 
by the local officials, most of whom had been proceeding 
in perfect honesty, but with insufficient knowledge. 

The next step in this direction is to require the same 
submission to State control of the accounts of public serv¬ 
ice industries which are under private ownership. They 
are public accounts to the same degree as those of the 
same class of industries which are under public owner¬ 
ship, and should be subject to the same supervision and 
control. Please observe that in the law and in this sug¬ 
gested extension of the law, there is no hint of control of 
appropriations and expenditures, simply of the accounts 
kept of these appropriations, receipts and expenditures. 

An essential to the full control of the entire system, 
including the State bureau, is the publicity which is pro¬ 
vided for in the law by means of annual reports to the 
bureau, which must be certified as correct by the bureau, 
or its appointed public examiners, and published in an 
annual volume of comparative statistics, including the 
reports from all the taxing bodies and the public service 
industries operated by them. 


124 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [472] 


It is evident that uniformity in the accounts and re¬ 
ports of the taxing bodies is almost an essential to the 
carrying out of the inspections and publications. Differ¬ 
ences in methods of keeping accounts make the process 
of inspection immensely difficult and expensive, a^nd the 
comparison of statistics practically impossible. The ben¬ 
efits of the state supervision of accounts would then be 
needlessly expensive, and those of publication would be 
lost. The act therefore provides very properly that the 
first step to 6e taken by the State bureau should be to 
formulate, prescribe and install a system of accounting 
and reporting uniform for every public office and public 
account of the same class, and it defines the contents of 
the accounts and reports. The formulation of different 
systems for different classes of offices and accounts, pub¬ 
lic service industries and municipal departments is pre¬ 
scribed in full detail. 

This is the portion of the law which comes under the 
subject of this paper. It is readily seen that the most 
important parts of the law are those which have been 
previously described, and that this part is important 
simply because it makes comparatively easy what would 
otherwise be a most difficult and expensive task. 

The movement toward uniformity in municipal ac¬ 
counting began some years ago, largely in the desire of 
municipal officials to make comparisons of their work 
with that of others in the same line, and in the fact that 
under present conditions such comparisons are all but 
impossible. The writer has been in this movement from 
the first, working mainly on this line, as Chairman of 
the Committee on Uniformity in Municipal Reports and 
on National Statistics of the American Society of Munic¬ 
ipal Improvements, and has reported to his society each 
year some progress in this direction, but it is evident that 
the requests of any number of societies can be of but 
little value in changing forms of accounts and reports, 


[473] UNIFORM MUNICIPAL ACCOUNTING. 125 

and that such laws as that of Ohio produce in two or 
three years results which it would take generations to 
produce in any other way. The law also has the pro¬ 
vision for the inspection and correction of accounts by a 
responsible State bureau, which is far more important 
than any system of comparative statistical reports on a 
uniform basis could possibly be. 

It seems to the writer, therefore, that the step taken 
in Ohio is the greatest advance which has been made, and 
this paper is speaking for uniformity in municipal ac¬ 
counting mainly because it is incidental to the greater 
plan and an important adjunct to it. Work for a law 
in your State similar to that in fairly successful operation 
in Ohio, and you will not only have obtained the results 
desired by the workers for uniform municipal reports and 
accounts, but you will have secured the far greater benefit 
of checks upon public expenditures, the stoppage of great 
leaks, and the occasional discovery of a dishonest public 
official before his diversions of public funds have become 
serious. 

To Mr. Allen Ripley Foote, the editor of Public Pol¬ 
icy, Chicago, belongs most of the credit for the form of 
the Ohio law, and I am indebted to him for a copy of 
the law, with such changes as have been shown by experi¬ 
ence to be desirable, which is appended to this paper. 
Mr. Foote was also instrumental in securing the passage 
of a similar law in Illinois a couple of years ago, which 
was vetoed by the Governor, ostensibly because he feared 
the creation of an expensive bureau. The experience in 
Ohio since the passage of the law proves the fallacy of 
this argument, first, because the bureau is not inordinately 
large and expensive, but is, on the contrary, small, and 
therefore inexpensive; second, because the stoppage of 
leaks, not to speak of occasional detection of dishonesty, 
has saved many taxing bodies of the State many times 
the cost of the inspection of their accounts and the install- 


126 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [474] 

ation of the uniform system. Future cost will be less 
because the expense of the installation of the new system 
has been met and will not occur again, and inspections 
will hereafter be easier, and consequently cheaper. If 
the bill is again introduced in the Illinois Legislature it 
should pass even more readily than before, and if vetoed, 
some other reason (not likely to be the true one) must 
be assigned. 

Wyoming has had a State department supervising the 
accounts of the subordinate taxing bodies of the State for 
a dozen years. 

Several States have similar laws under consideration, 
notably New York and Massachusetts, and many central¬ 
ize the State’s accounts, and a few have a partial con¬ 
nection with the accounts of municipalities. Baltimore 
and Chicago are loud in their praises of the systems of 
uniform accounting which they have adopted for their 
various departments, and justly so. 

Most of the efforts of societies have been directed 
toward uniformity in municipal reports. Experience has 
shown that this is practically unattainable to any great 
extent without uniformity in municipal accounts. The 
New England Water Works Association, for example, 
has had a form for reports of water works operation for 
ten or fifteen years, but it has been adopted by members 
of the association and others scarcely more in number 
than it is years old. It has now been adopted, after some 
changes, by two other societies also, with no appreciable 
effect upon the extension of its use. 

The National Municipal League has adopted forms 
for the financial reports of cities, collecting the main 
items of the various departments in one comprehensive 
statement. It is in use by but three or four cities. Both 
these sets of forms can be filled out from almost any sys¬ 
tem of accounts which deserves the name of system, and 
so can the forms for other reports adopted by the Ameri- 


[475] 


UNIFORM MUNICIPAL ACCOUNTING. 


127 


can Society of Municipal Improvements, but not so easily 
as they could from a system which they exactly fit. Very 
few members of the societies adopting them, not to men¬ 
tion other cities, have used any of them, however, and 
it seems that nothing short of an act of Legislature will 
overcome the inertia of a city department in the matter 
of changes in forms of accounts and reports. Forms for 
reports of electric light companies have been adopted by 
Electric Light Associations with scarcely better results. 

The cities of Boston, New York and Chicago have 
bureaus of municipal statistics which issue monthly pub¬ 
lications, but these pay no attention to financial matters 
in their regular issues. Boston has special bulletins occa¬ 
sionally giving compilations of financial statistics, and 
uses the standard form above mentioned. The League of 
California Municipalities has adopted a series of head¬ 
ings for segregated municipal accounts, which is in use 
by several of the cities of the state. A number of similar 
statements might be addded, but, all told, they amount 
to nothing, by the side of the great number of municipal 
reports, based on uniform methods of accounting, 
obtained through the operation of the Ohio law. 

The committee of which the writer has been chair¬ 
man for several years, also considers the subject of Na¬ 
tional Statistics. The statistics of municipalities must be 
collected biennially by the census department, and one of 
the greatest difficulties is that of reducing the data col¬ 
lected to a uniform standard for comparison. This de¬ 
partment is therefore greatly interested in the subject 
under consideration. It meets with no greater success in 
inducing uniformity in reports than do the societies 
named. It will welcome the law as the greatest aid to 
its work. 

The emphasis on the Ohio law and its like is there¬ 
fore increased by the needs of all those in nation. State 


128 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [476] 


and municipality, who wish to use data regarding the 
operations of municipal departments. 

Public Policy, Mr. Foote’s journal, devotes much 
space to this subject and Municipal Engineering, of 
which the writer is editor, gives it all the attention pos¬ 
sible. Either will enable the interested reader to keep 
himself informed upon it. 

To sum up: 

What is needed is expert control, supervision and 
periodical inspection of accounts by a competent State 
department. Uniformity in municipal accounts is an 
essential detail for the easy and economical application of 
a law with these provisions. 

Uniformity in municipal reports is desired by many 
officials of all departments of government. It is attain¬ 
able without absolute uniformity of methods of account¬ 
ing, but is very difficult, if not impossible, under present 
conditions. It is doubtful if a provision merely for uni¬ 
formity in reports would be considered of sufficient value 
by legislators to be established, though it would be of 
great value, but it is an essential part of the more inclu¬ 
sive law, and the sentiment in its favor can be made to 
add to the influence needed to secure the enactment of 
the law. 

The national law requiring the collection of munici¬ 
pal statistics is an additional source of such influence, 
both in itself and in the efforts of the government officials 
to get the data required in such form as to be valuable. 

Let us work then for the state control of the accounts 
of the various taxing bodies of the commonwealth, and 
all the rest that we desire will come to us without further 
effort. 


[477] 


UNIFORM MUNICIPAL ACCOUNTING. 


129 


UNIFORM PUBLIC ACCOUNTING LAW—STATE OF OHIO. 1 


WITH SUGGESTED AMENDMENTS. 


AN ACT 

To create a bureau of inspection and supervision, of public offices, 
and to establish a uniform system of public accounting, auditing 
and reporting under the administration of the auditor of state. 
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio: 

Section i. There is hereby established in the department of 
the auditor of state a bureau to be known as the bureau of inspec¬ 
tion and supervision of public offices; the principal officer of said 
bureau shall be known as the chief inspector and supervisor of 
public offices; the auditor of state shall be, ex-officio, chief inspec¬ 
tor and supervisor of public office, and as such chief inspector and 
supervisor shall appoint not exceeding three deputies, no more than 
two of whom shall be of the same political party, who shall each 
receive a salary not exceeding two thousand dollars per annum, and 
a clerk who shall receive a salary not exceeding fifteen hundred 
dollars per annum, and in addition thereto an allowance for all nec¬ 
essary traveling and hotel expenses while absent from their places 
of residence in the discharge of their official duties. 

Sec. 2. (Duty of the auditor of state.) The auditor of state, 
through said bureau, shall formulate, prescribe and install a system 
of accounting and reporting, in conformity with the provisions of 
this act. that shall be uniform for every public office and every public 
account of the same class, and which shall exhibit true accounts and 
detailed statements of funds collected, received and expended for 
account of the public for any purpose whatever, and by all public 
officers, employees or other persons, such accounts to show the 
receipt, use and disposition of all public property, and the income, 
if any, derived therefrom, and of all sources of public income and 
the amounts due and received from each source, all receipts, 
vouchers and other documents kept, or that may be required to 
be kept, necessary to isolate and prove the validity of every trans¬ 
action, and all statements and reports made or required to be made, 
for the internal administration of the office to which they pertain, 
and all reports published, or that may be required to be published, 


Matter in parentheses is in the law and is to be omitted. Matter 
in italics is new matter to be inserted. 





130 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [ 478 ] 


for the information of the people, regarding any and all details of 
the financial administration of public affairs. 

Sec. 3. (Separate accounts.) Separate accounts shall be kept 
for every appropriation or fund made by a taxing body, showing 
date and manner of each payment made oat of the funds provided 
by such appropriation, the name, address and vocation, of each per¬ 
son, organization, corporation or association, to whom paid, and 
for what purpose paid. Separate accounts shall be kept for each 
department, public improvement, undertaking, institution and public 
service industry under the jurisdiction of every taxing body, and of 
the state, and all service rendered by, or property transferred from 
one department, public improvement, undertaking, institution or 
public service industry to another shall be paid for at its true and 
full value by the department, public improvement, undertaking, 
institution or public service industry receiving the same, and no 
department, public improvement, undertaking, institution, public 
service industry shall benefit in any financial manner whatever by 
an appropriation of fund made for the support of another depart¬ 
ment, public improvement, undertaking, institution or public service 
industry. All unexpended balances or appropriations shall be trans¬ 
ferred to the (general) fund from zvhich originally appropriated 
whenever the account with an appropriation is closed. 

Sec. 4. (Public service industries.) Separate accounts shall 
be kept for every public service industry which shall show the true 
and entire cost of the ownership and operation thereof, the amount 
collected annually by general or special taxation for services ren¬ 
dered to the public and the amount and character of the service 
rendered therefor, and the amount collected annually from private 
users, if any, for service rendered to them, and the amount and 
character of the service rendered therefor. 

Sec. 5. (Comparative statistics.) The auditor of state, through 
said bureau, shall require from every taxing body and public insti¬ 
tution financial reports covering a full period of each fiscal year, 
in accordance with the forms and methods prescribed by him, which 
shall be uniform for all accounts of the same class. 

Such reports shall contain an accurate statement in summarized 
form of all collections made by or receipts received by the officers 
from all sources, all accounts due the public but not collected, and 
of all expenditures for every purpose, and by what authority author¬ 
ized, and also: 

(a) A statement of all costs of ownership and operation and 
of all income of each and every public service industry owned and 
operated by a municipality. 


[ 479 ] 


UNIFORM MUNICIPAL ACCOUNTING. 


131 


(b) A statement of the entire public debt of every taxing body 
to which power has been delegated by the state to create a public 
debt, showing the purpose for which each item of the debt was 
created, the provisions made for the payment of the debt, together 
with such other information as may be required by the auditor of 
state. 

Such reports shall be certified as to their correctness by said 
auditor of state, his deputies, or by a state examiner, or other person 
legally authorized to make such certificate. Their substance shall be 
published in an annual volume of comparative statistics that shall 
be issued for each class of accounts at the expense of the state as a 
public document, and shall be submitted by the auditor of state to 
the governor for transmittal to the Legislature at the next regular 
session, or at a special session, when required. 

Sec. 6. (Duty of public officers.) It shall be the duty of every 
public officer and employee to keep all accounts of his office in the 
form prescribed and to make all reports required by the auditor of 
state. 

Refusal or neglect to perform these duties shall be deemed an 
offense against the efficiency of public administration and the wel¬ 
fare of the people, and shall be punished by removal from office, 
after trial and conviction bv a court of competent jurisdiction. 

Every public officer and employee whose duty it is to collect or 
receive payments due the public shall deposit with the depository 
designated once every twenty-four consecutive hours (or as fre¬ 
quently as may be required by the ordinance or law enacted by the 
taxing body of which he is an officer or employee). In case a 
public officer or employee collects or receives funds for the account 
of a taking body of which he is not an officer or employee, he shall, 
during the Saturday of each week, pay to the proper officer of the 
taxing body for account of which the collection was made or pay¬ 
ment was received, the full amount collected or received during the 
current week for the account of such taxing body. 

Sec. 7. After the bureau of inspection and supervision shall 
have formulated and installed the system of uniform accounting 
in any or all classes of public offices, the auditor of state is hereby 
empowered to appoint additional assistants as required to administer 
the provisions of this act; said additional assistants shall be known 
as state examiners, who shall each be paid five dollars per day for 
the time necessary to the performance of his duties, and in addition 
thereto his necessary expenses incurred. 

Sec. 8. (Power of the auditor of state.) The auditor of state, 
a deputy inspector and supervisor and every state examiner shall 


132 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [ 480 ] 


have power by himself, or by any person legally appointed to per¬ 
form the service, to examine into all financial affairs of every public 
office and officer, and shall make such an examination at least once 
a year. On every such examination inquiry shall be made as to the 
financial conditions and resources of the taxing body having juris¬ 
diction over the appropriations disbursed by the office, whether the 
requirements of the constitution and statutory laws of the state, 
and the ordinances and orders of the taxing body, have been properly 
complied with, and into the methods and accuracy of the accounts, 
and as to such other methods as the auditor of state may prescribe. 
The auditor of state, his deputies, every state examiner, and every 
person legally appointed to perform such service, shall have power 
(to administer an oath to any person whose testimony may be 
required, on any such examination, and to compel the appearance 
and attendance of such person for the purpose of any such examina¬ 
tion and investigation, and the production of books and papers), 
avid may exercise all the authority to issue subpoena and compulsory 
process, and direct the service thereof by any constable or sheriff. 
compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of books and 
papers before him at any designated time and place, to administer 
oaths and to punish for disobedience of subpoena, or refusal to be 
sworn, or to answer as a witness, or to produce books and papers, 
which is conferred by law upon courts or officers authorised to take 
depositions. Willful false swearing in such examinations shall be 
perjury and shall be punishable as such. A report of each exami¬ 
nation shall be made (and shall be a matter of record) in duplicate, 
erne copy to be filed in the office of the auditor of state and one in 
the auditing department of the taxing body. 

If any such examination discloses misfeasance or malfeasance 
in office on the part of any public officer or employee, a certified 
copy of the report shall be filed rvith the proper legal authority of 
the taxing body for such legal action as is proper in the premises. 
Refusal, neglect or failure on the part of the proper legal authority 
of the taxing body to take prompt and efficient legal action to carry 
into effect the findings of any such examination, or to prosecute the 
same to a final conclusion, shall give to the auditor of state, through 
the attorney-general’s department of the state, the right to institute 
the necessary proceedings or to participate therein, and to prosecute 
the same in any of the courts of the state, to a final conclusion. 

Sec. 9. The expense of maintaining and operating the bureau 
herein provided for shall be paid by the several counties out of the 
general county fund, in proportion to their population as shown by 
federal census next preceding the levy hereby authorized, and 


[ 481 ] 


UNIFORM MUNICIPAL ACCOUNTING. 


133 


the auditor of state is hereby authorized and empowered to levy upon 
and collect from each county in. the state its proportion of said 
expenses; said amount shall be paid semi-annually during the months 
of June and December of each year following the passage of this act, 
and shall in the aggregate be only sufficient to pay said expenses. 
The same shall be paid in vouchers of the auditor of state, and all 
funds received by the auditor of state on this account shall be covered 
into the state treasury to the credit of bureau of inspection and super¬ 
vision account. 

Sec. io. (Expense of audit.) The expenses of auditing public 
accounts shall be paid by each taxing body for the auditing of all 
accounts under its jurisdiction, and the auditor of state is hereby 
authorized and empowered to (levy and collect the same from each 
taxing body) certify the expenses of such audit to the auditor of 
the proper county, who shall pay the same out of the general fund of 
the county, said fund, except as to the expenses of auditing the 
financial affairs of the county, to be reimbursed out of the moneys 
due to said taxing body at the next semi-annual settlement of the 
collection of taxes. Such amount shall be only sufficient to fully 
cover all expenses incurred on behalf of such audit (they shall be 
paid on vouchers rendered by the auditor of state) and all funds 
received by the auditor of state on this account shall be covered into 
the state treasury to the credit of the public audit expense account. 

Sec. ii. This act shall take effect and be in force from and 
after its passage. 


DIRECT PRIMARY ELECTIONS. 


BY SENATOR CHARLES C. SIMONS, OF DETROIT. 


Permit me first to define and limit my subject. I take 
it, from the purpose of this meeting, that my auditory is 
interested in direct primary elections at this time primar¬ 
ily as a branch of municipal reform. This paper will 
concern itself therefore with the direct primary princi¬ 
pally in its relation to municipal elections. I shall attempt 
neither a general nor an academic discussion of the ques¬ 
tion. The excellent work of Ernest C. Meyers of Madi¬ 
son on Nominating Systems is so clear, so thorough, and 
so recent, that it were labor unwisely expended. I shall 
confine myself largely to a discussion of the experience 
of the city of Detroit in two tests of the direct primary, 
one conducted extra-legally under party rule, the other 
under the provisions of law enacted by the last Legisla¬ 
ture. 

That the discussion may be perfectly clear, let us at 
the outset consider briefly the nature of this nominating 
plan that is termed Direct Primary Elections. Is it 
something with which we are unfamiliar, is it revolution¬ 
ary in character, is it in conflict with our present system 
of elections, is it subversive of representative govern¬ 
ment, and a step toward the purely democratic or com¬ 
munal form? It is not one nor any of these things. As 
citizens we elect our public officers directly, by a popular 
vote of all qualified electors, expressed by means of a 
secret ballot. As members of a party we nominate our 
candidates indirectly by a complex and intricate system 
of delegates and conventions. The direct primary means 




[483] DIRECT PRIMARY ELECTIONS. 135 

simply the use of our present election machinery for the 
purpose of making nominations—that we nominate as 
we now elect by secret ballot, cast directly for candidates, 
without the intervention of delegates and conventions. 
Is there anything startling in such a reform, anything 
revolutionary, does it substitute for something familiar, 
something unfamiliar, for something simple, something 
intricate? Manifestly not. Is it consistent with our 
representative form of government to nominate without 
delegates and a nominating convention? As inconsistent 
as it is to elect without an electoral college. 

I shall not discuss in detail the evils of our present 
nominating system,—they are too well known and have 
been too widely discussed. Nor shall I discuss all of the 
advantages claimed for the direct primary, except in so 
far as I consider the theoretical claims to have been jus¬ 
tified by the experiences above referred to in the city of 
Detroit. Most of the ills of the body politic have been 
laid at the door of the indifferent and apathetic voter, 
and rightly so. With all the ignorant and dishonest vote 
with which our larger cities are cursed, those of us who 
are optimists in public affairs still believe that the great 
majority of our electorate is either intelligent and honest, 
or subject to the influence of those who are intelligent 
and honest. We are sustained in that belief by observing 
that when in our great cities the mass of the electorate 
does become thoroughly aroused and interested, as it will 
periodically, and does stir itself to active participation 
in public affairs that it sweeps everything before it, and 
no clique or combination of self-interested political lead¬ 
ers can stem the tide. Now, in so far as this indifference 
on the part of so many of our electors is due to the inher¬ 
ent nature of our system of nominations, in so far will the 
direct primary prove efficacious in arousing public inter¬ 
est in party nominations. 

Now, wherein lies the responsibility of the system 


136 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [ 484 ] 


itself for this indifference and apathy? First, under the 
present nominating system there is no concentration of 
activity on the part of candidates or party workers. For 
every political division there is a distinct caucus and con¬ 
vention for each of the several parties. We have the city, 
county, senatorial, congressional, state and judicial con¬ 
vention, and before each a separate set of caucuses. Find¬ 
ing it impossible to attend all caucuses, a large percentage 
of the electors attend none. Second, many voting dis¬ 
tricts are under the control of some self-interested ward- 
heeler, who always succeeds in naming the delegate. The 
voter knowing that his vote cannot affect the final result, 
stays away. Third, the voter knows by experience that 
the delegate while expressing his choice for some candi¬ 
dates, does not express his choice for others. He loses 
interest and stays away. Fourth, he knows by experience 
that many delegates barter away their votes in conven¬ 
tions for money or promise of office. He becomes dis¬ 
gusted and stays away. Fifth, he knows that whatever 
may be the complexion of the largest number of dele¬ 
gates in the convention, there is great probability that 
some candidate with a minimum of votes holding the bal¬ 
ance of power may dictate the nominee; or that the con¬ 
vention may be stampeded by skillful manipulation to 
some one who has never been considered as a candidate 
by the electorate. Realizing that his vote is of little 
value, he refuses to cast it, and stays away. And so 
reasons might be multiplied why the voter loses interest 
in the caucus; and much political strategy might be ex¬ 
posed that renders the vote of a large number of citizens 
absolutely nugatory as affecting the final result. But 
with these you are all more or less familiar. 

Now, how would the existing order of things be 
changed by the reform? Under the direct primary in 
its most approved form, all parties will caucus for candi- 


[485] 


DIRECT PHI MARY ELECTIONS. 


137 


dates to be elected to all offices at the ensuing* elections 
at the same time and place under regulations imposed hy 
law. This will insure the same, if not greater, effort in 
getting out the vote, as is expected at general elections, 
with the same approximate result. A secret ballot and 
strict voting regulations will insure the same fair count 
and orderly conduct at the polls as we now have at gen¬ 
eral elections. No matter what may be the complexion 
of the voting district, no matter who controls the major¬ 
ity of the voters therein, every voter is certain to have 
his vote counted, and to affect the final result. It will 
no longer be possible for a small majority in one district 
to exercise the same influence in the convention as a large 
majority in another district. Every vote will be of equal 
value. There will be no delegates to stand between the 
voter and his choice. There will be no conventions to 
stampede or manipulate, and no votes can be bartered 
except with the connivance and consent of the voter him¬ 
self. 

So much for an excursion into the realm of theory. 
Do these considerations really affect the voter practically, 
or does the apathy lie deeper, and is it inherently an 
attribute of the stay-at-home voter rather than something 
caused by the extrinsic circumstances that I have enumer¬ 
ated among the defects of the caucus and convention 
system? Let us look at the experience of the city of 
Detroit. It is impossible to get accurate statistics of the 
vote cast at the fall primaries of 1902 under the McLeod 
plan, but the results of the spring primaries of 1903 afford 
some interesting and instructive data. At these pri¬ 
maries, held in April, 1903, there were nominated a police 
justice and six members of the school board. On the 
Republican ballot there was but one candidate for police 
justice; on the Democratic ballot there were no candi¬ 
dates. Two county officers were nominated, a circuit 


138 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [ 486 ] 


judge and a county auditor. On the Democratic ticket 
there was no contest for circuit judge, and but one can¬ 
didate on the ticket. There were cast at the spring pri¬ 
maries in the city of Detroit in 1903, 12,270 Republican 
votes, and 3,826 Democratic votes, or a total of 16,096. 
While there is no way of making a comparison between 
this vote and the number cast at the spring caucuses for 
delegates, it is safe to assume by those familiar with the 
vote formerly cast at spring caucuses, that it is from 100 
to 200 per cent, greater than the vote under the old sys¬ 
tem, under similar circumstances. 

But there is a comparison that may be made that is 
more accurate and of great significance. At the spring 
elections in 1901, there were cast in the city of Detroit a 
total of 16,925 Republican and Democratic votes. In 
other words, there were nearly as many votes cast at the 
spring primaries, within a few hundred, as were cast at 
the regular spring elections preceding. This comparison 
is made more startling, when we consider that at the 
spring primaries the voters had their first experience 
under the new law, and that an unusually large number 
of ballots were thrown out because of their inexperience 
with it; and that at the spring election with which the 
vote is compared, there was a contest for every office, and 
that in addition to the candidates voted for at the spring 
primaries of 1903, there were elected in 1901 a justice 
of the Supreme Court and Regents of the University. 

It might be argued that the large vote cast at the pri¬ 
maries was due largely to the novelty of the plan, and the 
agitation that preceded the passage of the law, that once 
the novelty has worn off the electorate will relapse into its 
former indifferent state. The experience of the city of 
Grand Rapids, however, with a similar law, is a refuta¬ 
tion of this charge, and furnishes some basis for assum¬ 
ing that the interest manifested in the primaries is more 
apt to increase rather than decrease. I quote from the 


[ 487 ] DIRECT PRIMARY ELECTIONS. 139 

Grand Rapids Herald of March 19, 1903. “Here are 
the totals in the three elections”: 


Total vote, 1901. 3,921 

Total vote, 1902. 7,668 

Total vote, 1903 . 8,213 


The vote in 1901 represented less than 25 per cent, of the 
total vote cast in the spring election, and was commented 
upon at the time as remarkably large, in comparison with 
the votes cast in the old-fashioned caucuses, especially 
as there were no contests to call out the vote, and the 
system was new. The vote in 1903 was, approximately, 
52 per cent, of the total vote cast in the spring election a 
year ago. 

Our comparison gains still greater strength when we 
analyze the vote of the last spring primaries. The First 
and Second Wards of the city have been the greatest 
offenders heretofore in their large stay-at-home vote, at 
caucuses. But in the spring of 1903, under the direct 
system, the First Ward cast at the primaries a total of 
1,340 votes, as against 1,041 at the spring election pre¬ 
ceding, and the Second Ward a total of 1,162 votes at the 
primaries, as against a total of 837 at the preceding 
spring election. 

In Wayne County at the spring elections of 1903, held 
immediately after the spring direct primaries, there was 
cast a total of 20,578 Republican and Democratic votes. 
There can be no question but what this large vote was 
due partly to the activity at the direct primaries, and that 
a greater sustained interest in the candidates was created. 
But even with this comparison the vote at the spring 
direct primaries was over 80 per cent, of the votes cast at 
the ensuing election. It will be remembered that 52 per 
cent, of the election vote was considered a remarkable 
showing in the city of Grand Rapids. 

It would furnish an interesting comparison were we 
in possession of accurate data showing the number of 





140 MICH WAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION . [ 488 ] 

votes cast throughout the city for delegates to conven¬ 
tions, but the figures are not at hand. The Detroit Jour¬ 
nal of March 18, 1903, estimates-the vote as ten times 
the number that have been cast at some caucuses held in 
the city. But there is a comparison possible in some pre¬ 
cincts which is both interesting and instructive. In the 
spring caucuses of 1903, to select delegates to the conven¬ 
tion that nominated a justice of the Supreme Court and 
two members of the Board of Regents, four precincts 
went by default in the Republican caucus, there being no 
electors at the booths. The vote cast at these precincts 
under the direct primary was as follows: 


4th District, nth Ward. 58 votes 

2nd District, 15th Ward. 114 votes 

7th District, 16th Ward. 16 votes 

5th District, 17th Ward. 43 votes 


a total of 231 for the four precincts, and an average of 
56 votes per precinct. In my own district, the Fifth of 
the First Ward, there were three votes cast for delegate 
to the Judicial Convention, while at the spring primaries 
there were 133 votes cast. This comparison would show 
a similar result throughout the city were it possible to 
make it. 

In the Democratic caucuses in the spring of 1903, 
under the old system, there were 49 precincts out of 125 
in which no votes at all were cast for delegates. At the 
spring primaries, under the direct voting system, these 
precincts cast from three to fifty votes each, an average 
vote of 30 per precinct, and a total vote of 1,470. In 
other words, at the spring direct primary there was cast 
nearly a third of the total Democratic vote in districts 
which at the spring caucuses had not been represented by 
a single vote. Making every allowance possible in favor 
of the size of the vote cast at the primaries under the 
caucus system, can there be any doubt as to the measur¬ 
ably larger number of votes cast under the direct plan 






[489] DIRECT PRIMARY ELECTIONS. J41 

than under the other; and if there is any foundation at 
all for the charges that are laid at the door of the stay-at- 
home voter, this great increase in size of the vote cast 
at the primaries must tend to a choice of better candi¬ 
dates. At least, it is indisputable that the larger the vote 
the more difficult it is to control under any system. Much 
more difficult is it to control when it is not only larger, 
but is so cast that a small number of voters, holding the 
balance of power in an election dictrict, cannot determine 
the complexion of the whole vote of that district, but 
every vote, no matter where cast, is of equal value with 
every other vote as affecting the final result 

But the lessons to be drawn from the experience of 
the city of Detroit do not end here. One of the favorite 
devices for the control of delegates used by political strat¬ 
egists, is what is called colonization. There is in every 
large city a class of floating, irresponsible voters, who 
may be moved from one boarding place to another, ac¬ 
cording as they may be required to swing the caucus for 
chosen delegates in this or that precinct. Under the 
direct vote system this is absolutely impossible. These 
votes, no matter in what precinct they are cast, whether 
in a precinct that is closely contested or in one where the 
votes all run one way, have but a certain value in affect¬ 
ing the result, and no other, and no amount of shifting, 
and so-called colonization can make a hundred votes tally 
more than just a hundred. 

Another much desired result was plainly observed at 
this trial of the direct secret ballot. It is tersely expressed 
in the following comment, from the Detroit Tribune of 
March 19, 1903: “Moreover, the scenes at the polls, the 
notable absence of heelers, wire-pullers, herders, and 
bosses, was wholly encouraging to decent citizenship.” 

It is claimed by opponents of the direct primary, that 
under it those in office have an unfair advantage over 
those who are not, and that the result would be the per- 


142 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [490] 


petuation in office of incumbents without regard to their 
fitness, simply because an office-holder is more widely 
known than one who does not hold office. Let us see 
how this is borne out by our experience. There had been 
much criticism of the School Board in Detroit during the 
year or two preceding the spring primaries of 1903. Six 
members of the School Board were candidates for renom¬ 
ination. Every one of the six was defeated. 

But did the direct primaries result in the nomination 
of better men—for, after all, that is the test of the success 
of any election reform. The general opinion of the citi¬ 
zens of Detroit is that it has. Under the McLeod plan, 
in the fall of 1902, every candidate for office who had 
been in any way identified with the so-called ripper move¬ 
ment was defeated. There was no exception. And this 
in spite of their having the active support of all those 
who were formerly powers in shaping party nominations, 
and in spite of the fact that at the last moment all pos¬ 
sible effort was concentrated on behalf of two or three 
candidates in the hope of saving them. 

The contention that under the direct system there 
would be such a multiplicity of candidates that it would 
result in nominations by a small minority, was also re¬ 
futed by the experience. As a matter of fact, the weaker 
candidates are the more apt to drop out, for the hope is 
no longer held out to them, as it is in conventions, that 
in case of a deadlock among the stronger candidates, there 
may be a compromise upon the weaker one, or a stam¬ 
pede to him. The votes once cast for candidates directly 
are irrevocable, and cannot be shifted. At the spring 
primaries of 1903 there were two candidates for Circuit 
Judge, and two for County Auditor upon the Republican 
ticket, and but one for Police Justice. On the Democratic 
ticket there was but one candidate for Circuit Judge, two 
for County Auditor, and none for Police Justice. Every 
single candidate was nominated by a majority vote. 


[ 491 ] 


DIRECT PRIMARY ELECTIONS. 


143 


The experience in the city of Detroit was had with 
the blanket-ballot, that is, a ballot upon which the candi¬ 
dates for all parties are printed in separate columns. 
There has been some discussion as to whether this is to 
be preferred to the separate ballot plan or not. Objec¬ 
tions have been made to it on the ground that the voters 
of one party may vote in the column of the opposite party, 
for the purpose of unloading a weak candidate upon their 
opponents. I think there is little foundation for this 
fear. In the first place the law provides that a voter may 
vote in but one column. Consequently, in order to vote 
for the weaker candidate of the opposing party, he must 
sacrifice his vote for every office on his own party ticket. 
That very many electors will do this is doubtful. Sec¬ 
ondly, to unload a weaker candidate upon the opposing 
party necessitates a transfer of a considerable portion of 
the vote. This cannot be accomplished without a wide¬ 
spread movement and more or less publicity, and is likely 
to act as a boomerang upon the candidate in whose inter¬ 
est it is made. This was evidenced at the spring pri¬ 
maries in Detroit. A rumor became current that the 
friends of Mr. Casgrain, who was the only Democratic 
candidate for Circuit Judge, would vote in the Republi¬ 
can column and help nominate Mr. Hislop, who was gen¬ 
erally considered the weaker Republican candidate. Mr. 
Casgrain at once publicly disclaimed responsibility for any 
such movement, and urged his friends to vote in their own 
party column. The result of the vote showed Mr. Cas¬ 
grain, who had no opponent, to have a greater total than 
the sum of the votes cast for both contesting candidates 
for Auditor on his own party ticket. 

On the other hand, there are some positive advantages 
to be urged in favor of the blanket-ballot. The secret 
ballot appeals to all who seek for absolute non-interfer¬ 
ence with the voter when he expresses his choice. The 
blanket-ballot is a secret ballot, both as to candidates and 


144 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [ 492 ] 


parties. There are many so-called bosses who wield a 
great influence with large numbers of voters of both par¬ 
ties. It may be to their interest to influence men under 
their domination to vote a party ticket not their own. 
With the separate party ballot and a friendly member on 
the election board, they may know to a certainty whether 
their henchmen have delivered the goods or not. With 
the blanket-ballot they lose all control and supervision 
of the voter when he enters the booth. Moreover, it is 
highly advisable in order to educate the voters up to an 
intelligent use of the ballot, that there should be as little 
change in its form as possible. The blanket-ballot very 
closely resembles the ballot used at general elections, the 
only difference being that upon it the voter cannot cast 
a straight ticket. My own observations incline me 
strongly in favor of the blanket-ballot, especially in mu¬ 
nicipal elections. 

This concludes the list of the more important con¬ 
clusions that must be reached by all intelligent observers, 
who have followed the experiences with the direct pri¬ 
mary in Detroit. Against the system, as applied to a 
municipality, there can be little valid objections. It is 
free from any of the more reasonable objections that are 
urged against its application to larger and differently 
constituted communities. It is sound in theory, and has 
proved effective in practice. Still better results may be 
expected as the weaknesses of the law appear through 
repeated application, and are remedied. For my own 
part, I am confident that it will do more to reform our 
municipal governments than any other change suggested 
or projected. The reform in the nominating system is a 
fundamental reform—for nearly all public ills may be 
traced to the initial step in the choice of public servants. 


PUBLIC WORKS IN DETROIT. 


BY WM. H. MAYBURY, COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC WORKS. 


The changed condition of traffic in the past ten years, 
requires greater precautions in the selection of materials 
for the paving of streets than it has heretofore been cus¬ 
tomary to exercise in most of our cities throughout the 
country. The carrying capacity of trucks and other 
vehicles for transporting freight and commodities through 
our streets has been greatly increased; and it is found 
by actual experience in the city of Detroit, that the older 
style of pavements are not adequate to withstand the 
increased weight which it is now necessary for them to 
carry. It has become a question of considerable moment 
as to what changes are necessary to meet these new con¬ 
ditions. It is claimed by some that it is necessary to 
strengthen the surfacing of the pavement; but in my 
opinion this would not be sufficient, and the foundation 
as well as the surfacing must be made stronger to meet 
these emergencies. 

The next question to be met, is the kind of material 
out of which the foundation and surface of pavements 
should be constructed. It is my opinion that public 
works of all kinds should be constructed in the most sub¬ 
stantial manner; having in view its durability for the 
longest possible period of time. I have advocated, in the 
city of Detroit, that the concrete foundations of our pave¬ 
ments should be made with only the best quality of 
crushed stone and clean coarse sand, with the best quality 
of Portland cement in proper proportions. While this 
might seem to be expensive in the first instance, the 
increased strength secured, and lasting quality of the 




146 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [ 494 ] 


pavements thus derived, will more than recompense for 
the extra outlay. The proper apportionment of the ma¬ 
terial is not alone sufficient, and"in order to get a good, 
substantial foundation, it is necessary to see that the 
materials, so apportioned, are properly mixed. Merely 
taking a portion of sand and placing it on the mortar 
board, and then adding your stone and cement, would 
make a product of little value, unless properly mixed; and 
in order to have a strong and durable substructure, it 
is necessary that the materials be thoroughly mixed, as 
well as apportioned, to the extent that the cement and 
sand should be of one color. 

While I would not cast any reflection upon either 
contractors or manufacturers of materials, yet, I believe 
most thoroughly in careful inspection of materials, and 
the employment of competent men for inspectors; for we 
all know from our experience in all lines of business, that 
even though we contract for material or goods to be of 
a certain standard, as shown by sample submitted, that 
yet, shipments will be made of material which has to be 
returned. And while it may be the intention of the 
dealer when he makes his contract to deliver his goods 
according to samples, and he is presumably honest, it is 
still the duty of the officers of the municipality to see that 
the city gets what it contracted for, and for which it will 
pay. 

For the purpose of protecting our pavements in the 
city of Detroit, ordinances have been passed regulating 
the width of wagon tires, and automobiles with rubber 
tires and trucks with like equipment may also be expected 
to spare the surface. But these improvements also have 
a tendency to encourage heavier loading by such trucks 
and vehicles, and the weight on the pavement is corre¬ 
spondingly increased. In reality, these methods do not 
protect the pavements as they are supposed to do, for the 
weight is still present, and the real test of the pavement 


[ 495 ] 


PUBLIC WORKS IN DETROIT . 


147 


is in the foundation itself. An important question to be 
considered is the protection of the pavement by proper 
drainage. A wet surface is destructive of the life of the 
pavement, but a wet foundation is even worse. 

Constant attention should be bestowed on pavements 
of all kinds, and as soon as defects appear they should be 
promptly repaired. A small hole rapidly increases in 
size, and renders the street unsightly and dangerous, and 
can be repaired at proportionately less expense than a 
large one. 

There should be some uniform and inflexible rule to 
control the tearing up of pavements for the laying of gas 
and water pipes, conduits, etc., and the relaying and 
repairing of such pavements. The method at present in 
vogue in the city of Detroit, is for the party wishing to 
disturb the pavements for any purpose, to make a deposit 
sufficient to cover the cost of replacing the same, includ¬ 
ing inspection; the work being done under the direct 
supervision of the Department of Public Works; the bal¬ 
ance of the deposit, if any, being returned to the party 
making it, on the surrender of the permit. The city 
should at all times be equipped with all the necessary 
materials for the construction of pavements and other 
municipal work, to enable it to be independent of combin¬ 
ations, either of contractors or material men. This will 
prevent delays in completing contracts, and give the city 
facilities to obtain the best prices and results. Before a 
contractor should be allowed to tear up a street for the 
purpose of constructing pavements or sewers, he should 
be required to give the city notice that he has all the 
necessary material at hand, and labor engaged to com¬ 
plete the work within the time limit set in the contract. 
In all repaving work will be found a considerable quan¬ 
tity of old material which can be utilized to great advan¬ 
tage in patching and repairing other streets. I have found 


148 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [496] 


this by actual experience in the city of Detroit to be of 
great profit and advantage to the municipality. 

There is room, in my opinion, for a great and wise 
economy in regulating the width of pavements on resi¬ 
dence streets, and those subjected to a limited amount of 
traffic. There seems no necessity for so wide a roadway 
on residence streets as is required on business streets, 
where traffic conditions are more congested; and the dif¬ 
ference in the maintenance would result in no small item 
of saving to the city. Moreover, the spaces not required 
for traffic purposes could well be utilized with splendid 
effect in grass plats, and ornamental trees and shrubbery, 
giving the city a more beautiful and pleasing appearance 
than a wide waste of expensive pavement. There are 
hundreds of streets in Detroit where this plan could be 
adopted, and a great saving effected in paving, repaving 
and repairing streets. Any person interested in this 
feature can easily realize the vast amount of money that 
could be saved to the tax payers in a period of ten or 
fifteen years. If an average of three feet were taken off 
the width of the paved portion of all residence streets in 
this city, it would mean thousands of dollars saved to the 
tax payers, and the saving would continue for all time. 

In my opinion, the heads of the different departments 
of the municipal government of a city, should meet to¬ 
gether at frequent intervals and lay out a common plan 
for general improvement; and when such plan is adopted, 
all departments should earnestly work in unison for the 
most lasting benefits possible to be derived. 

Public officers are sometimes too prone to pay atten¬ 
tion to work in progress on the surface of the streets, 
where citizens are continually passing, and are liable to 
comment on the nature of the work, while at the same 
time work of equal importance, such as public and lateral 
sewers, is neglected. 

A public officer too often considers himself the master, 


[ 497 ] 


PUBtlC WORKS IK DETROIT . 


149 


rather than a servant of the people; secluding himself 
from the people he represents, and neither seeking nor 
permitting suggestions or advice. I believe it the duty of 
every public official to invite criticism and suggestions 
from citizens, to enable him better to conduct the affairs 
of his office in the interests of the general tax payer. 
Honest criticism and suggestions will injure no honest 
public official, as none are so wise as to “know it all.” 
The fact that a public officer realizes that the eyes of the 
public are upon him spurs him on to the exertion of more 
energy and ability in the administration of his office, and 
stimulates him to become better equipped with knowledge 
that will be of benefit to him and the municipality. 

It is not only the duty of a public official to be able 
to account for every penny intrusted to him for expendi¬ 
ture, but it is also his duty to see that proper material and 
construction is had for that money, and to safeguard his 
funds on the same business principles that he would apply 
to his own funds in private enterprises. If a public officer 
permits himself to digress from this rule, either through 
friendship, political influence or petty advantage, that 
man, in my opinion, must be branded as false to the trust 
reposed in him. 

A public official should openly, and firmly assert and 
follow his own convictions, when satisfied they are right, 
without regard to the consequences of his public acts 
upon himself, personally. 

There is more public work usually going on in De¬ 
troit, the metropolis of the State, than elsewhere, and I 
would be pleased at any time to answer communications 
from city officials throughout the State in regard to any 
matters in connection with the conduct of the same. 

It gives me great pleasure to note the interest being 
taken by national and State institutions by the establish¬ 
ment of courses of study in connection with improved 
pavements and roads; and also the interest the national 


150 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION [498] 


and several State governments are showing in aiding the 
construction of good roads in various parts of the coun¬ 
try. I can see no good reason "why the national gov¬ 
ernment should aid in the improvement of waterways by 
appropriations, and even assist private corporations, such 
as railroads, by land grants, and yet neglect to make reas¬ 
onable appropriations for roadways overland, connecting 
our great commercial centers. I would urge that the 
League of Michigan Municipalities take an advanced po¬ 
sition on the question, and use its best endeavors to gain 
the necessary legislation to carry out this object. 

I believe that the League of Michigan Municipalities 
can accomplish much in the State, if the members will 
work in common unison for the improvement of all the 
cities along the same lines. This we owe, not only to the 
present generation, but to the generations that are to 
follow us, and to the great commonwealth of which we 
are so justly proud. 


SANITARY SEWERS FOR SMALL CITIES. 


BY E. R. NELLIS, MAYOR OF WYANDOTTE. 


Public health and convenience demand the removal 
of sewage from every populous community. In design¬ 
ing a system each of these purposes must be kept con¬ 
stantly in mind, and the proper meeting of these demands 
determine the principles of designing. 

There are two imperative essentials to sanitary sew¬ 
age, as set out by Folwell: 

1. That all the sewage be immediately removed to a 
point where it may be properly disposed of; 

2. That it shall be disposed of so as to lose perma¬ 
nently its power of evil. 

Convenience requires that the sewage be collected and 
disposed of with the least trouble to the householder, and 
in the least obtrusive and offensive way. 

In taking up the study of sewerage for any particular 
place or community, the first question arising is the gen¬ 
eral system to be adopted. In small cities financial limi¬ 
tations will be forced upon the engineer in his choice of 
a system. He must perforce recognize these limitations 
in addition to the requirements of sanitation and con¬ 
venience. 

The solution of the difficulty, where a complete water 
carriage system is rendered out of the question by reason 
of its cost, may lie in the construction of only the most 
necessary portion of the system. 

It is generally agreed by sanitarians, that where the 
conditions render it possible, the water carriage system 
should be adopted. This system has been divided into 




152 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [500] 


the Combined and Separate Systems. The terms “com¬ 
bined” and “separate” refer to the two classes of fluids 
to be removed—rain water ancf house sewage. In the 
former system both are carried in a common conduit; in 
the latter, the house sewage is removed through small 
sewers, the storm water through other large ones, or in 
the gutters, or partly in one and partly in the other. 

It is assumed that all urban districts require house 
sewerage. Local circumstances, financial, topographical 
and geographical, will usually decide whether or not 
storm water is to be removed by sewers. 

Generally in small cities there is but little paved area, 
and the streets are not graded, and it is thus almost impos¬ 
sible to remove the storm water, while a system that 
would remove all the storm water together with the 
house sewage within the limits costs so much as to make 
it almost prohibitive. 

We find that the primary object of a system of sewer¬ 
age is to remove from the gutters and ditches accumula¬ 
tions of filth, containing excretal matter and waste from 
houses and factories which harbor seeds of various com¬ 
municable maladies; and secondly, the removal of storm 
water. 

In cities of less than ten thousand inhabitants a sys¬ 
tem of storm water sewers of sufficient capacity to pro¬ 
vide for surface drainage, when streets are paved and 
houses closely built up, would not be practicable as a 
general rule, because the enormous size of the conduits 
would render them almost valueless for house sewage 
during dry seasons. 

In most small cities it is not difficult to find a proper 
outfall for the water of a drainage system. As soon as 
sewage is mixed with the flow of drains the whole mass 
is contaminated, and the trouble and cost of securing a 
safe outfall are, as a rule, greatly increased. 

The principle of conveying the storm water and sew- 


[ 501 ] 


SANITARY SEWERS. 


153 


age proper by separate and distinct channels has been 
used for more than fifty years. The earlier types of sew¬ 
ers were built for the conveyance of surface water and 
the drainage of the land. Later, solid matters, water 
closets and public water supplies were admitted. 

Frequent stoppages and accumulations of filth in sew¬ 
ers of primitive types, during dry seasons, led to pro¬ 
longed discussions of the fundamental principles of water 
carriage, and gave rise to the conveyance of sewage 
proper in a distinct system of sewers, which was sug¬ 
gested in England by Edwin Chadwick about 1842. In 
1850 and 1851 the separate system was adopted in Aln¬ 
wick and Tottenham, which are believed to be the earliest 
examples of sewerage works in which the surface water 
and subsoil drainage were separated from the sewage. 
In 1852 the General Board of Health of England pub¬ 
lished a blue book, officially advising the use of small 
pipes for sewers. The small pipe system has been con¬ 
structed in many towns of England, and has been in use 
in this country a number of years. Memphis was the 
first city in this country to build a separate system, which 
was designed by Col. Geo. E. Waring, Jr. Prior to the 
work of Colonel Waring at Memphis, the sewerage sys¬ 
tems of this country were all of the combined type. Mr. 
Waring’s system was a radical departure from American 
precedent, and the discussion in the American Society of 
Civil Engineers on the paper of Mr. Frederick S. Odell, 
on the Memphis system, is of interest, as showing the 
almost unanimous opposition of the engineers to the radi¬ 
cal innovation—an opposition which has not only disap¬ 
peared, but has been replaced by a support of the prin¬ 
ciples stated by Waring in that discussion, which is as 
strong as the opposition was at that time. 

Since the separate and combined systems, known as 
the water carriage systems, are universally used, where 
not prohibited by extraordinary local conditions, it re- 


154 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [ 502 ] 


mains with tis to examine the relative merits of each to 
ascertain which is most applicable to conditions usually 
found in small cities. 

As has been stated, the separate system contemplates 
the removal of house sewage and liquid manufacturing 
wastes through an independent system of pipes, whose 
dimensions are proportioned to the volume of sewage 
passing through them. It is essentially a system for the 
removal of filth by water carriage, the water being limited 
to the smallest necessary quantity. 

The amount of sewage carried by such a system is 
consequently very uniform. With it, when properly con¬ 
structed, there are no accumulations of deposits in the 
sewers, generating noxious gases, and only to be removed 
by the powerful action of a severe storm; but the sewers 
being daily filled to their maximum working capacity at 
the hour of maximum flow, the main lines are daily swept 
clear of solids, and the sewage is rapidly and completely 
carried to the outfall before any putrefactive change has 
taken place in it. 

In the primary lateral sewers, the amount of sewage 
is usually insufficient to keep the sewers clean, and here 
some artificial flushing becomes necessary. This is ordi¬ 
narily effected by automatic flush tanks, connected with 
the public water supply. 

The removal of storm water is treated under this sys¬ 
tem as a separate and independent question. It is per¬ 
mitted to flow over the surface of the ground as far as it 
is practicable to do so. When its volume becomes so 
augumented as to cause trouble, it is conveyed under¬ 
ground by channels or conduits at a slight depth, and is 
led to the nearest water course by the most direct and 
cheapest route. The storm water may be discharged into 
the water course at several points, according to the topo¬ 
graphy. The sewage, however, is usually conveyed to a 
single outfall, where it will not contaminate the water 


[ 503 ] 


SANITARY SEWERS. 


155 


supply, or may be treated chemically, or used in irriga¬ 
tion. 

Some engineers contend that the admission of a lim¬ 
ited amount of rain water to the foul water sewers is an 
important factor in maintaining their cleanliness, and the 
prevailing practice with them, when separation is at¬ 
tempted, is to exclude only the rain water in the streets 
and public squares, and to admit the rain from yards and 
roofs of houses. 

The practice in this country has tended toward a more 
complete separation of the sewage and the rainfall than 
in England. This is due in part, no doubt, to the differ¬ 
ence betewen the climates of the countries—heavy rain¬ 
falls being more common here. 

The separation of rainfall becomes important when 
the sewage must finally be pumped, and when it must be 
treated chemically, or used in irrigation. It becomes im¬ 
portant also when the sewage passes into a stream or 
river that must afterwards serve as the source of public 
water supplies. These conditions, demanding separation, 
are often found associated together in small cities. 

It is obvious that proportioning a plant to meet the 
demands of so inconstant and widely varying a use as 
the removal of storm water, presents especial difficulties, 
both as to economy and efficiency. The aggregate yearly 
discharge of house drainage from areas fairly built up 
is in excess of the entire volume of storm water that ordi¬ 
narily reaches the street catch basins. Yet the capacity 
required for ample service of house drainage is fixed by 
engineers as about one-fortieth that given to sewers for 
the removal of house sewage, in combination with storm 
water from streets, gullies, roofs and paved areas. 

Many arguments have been advanced on both sides, 
but the most weighty in favor of the combined system 
are: Its economy in first cost, when two complete separ¬ 
ate systems must be installed, and the ease with which 


156 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [ 504 ] 


obstructions can be removed and a general examination 
of its contents made. In favor of the seperate system: 
Its self-cleaning power, its adaptability, for house sew¬ 
age only, to small and poor towns, and its necessity to an 
economical sanitary treatment of the house sewage. 

Storm water sewers may frequently be placed only 
three to five feet below the surface, while in the combined 
system they must be low enough to receive the house 
sewage,—usually eight to twelve feet below the surface. 
The resulting increase in cost would often more than 
cover that of an additional system of small house sewers. 
Mr. W. J. McAlpine estimated the cost of a combined 
system for the city of Schnectady, N. Y., at $240,000. 
The total cost of the separate system, now completed, was 
about $35,000. The separate system, therefore, is pecu¬ 
liarly adapted to many of the numerous small cities, 
which have been practically debarred from sewerage by 
its cost, and to outlying portions of larger ones. Its 
comparatively small cost permits an early and general 
extension, and the removal of domestic wastes before the 
soil has become saturated with them beyond a reasonable 
hope of purification. 

The conduits of a combined system for small cities 
would not ordinarily be of sufficient size to permit of the 
removal of obstructions or examination. Therefore this 
argument, or advantage in favor of the combined system 
applies only to sewers in large cities. 

A most important factor in determining the system 
of sewerage to be used is, that the time will come when 
it shall become imperative to take some legislative action 
to protect rivers and water supplies, particularly in dis¬ 
tricts removed from large bodies of water, where small 
cities and towns are located. The old doctrine of self¬ 
purification of a running stream has, by no means, so 
many adherents as formerly. 

As the country fills up, and as towns situated on small 


[ 505 ] 


SANITARY SEWERS. 


157 


streams increase in size, they must seek for some means 
of taking care of foul liquids. The indications are clear 
that legislative control can not long be delayed. Look at 
Grand Rapids taking water from the polluted Grand river, 
and Owosso discharging a volume of sewage into the 
Schiawassee, very nearly equal to the mid-summer flow 
of water in the river! Look at the Raisin, the Kalama¬ 
zoo, the Saginaw, and notably the Black river at Port 
Huron, and say whether some action is not necessary? 
Professor Williams of Cornell, while engineer of the 
Detroit Water Works, made a study of the relation of 
typhoid fever outbreaks in the city of Detroit and the 
dredging of Black river at Port Huron, and he seems to 
have demonstrated his case most logically in tracing the 
outbreaks to the dredging. 

Massachusetts some years ago gave her State board 
of health authority and means to work along the line of 
preventing the polluting of streams. New York. Con¬ 
necticut, Ohio and other States have emulated the ex¬ 
ample of Massachusetts, and have done much good; and 
to-day there are numerous sewage disposal and water 
purification plants in successful operation in this country. 

Reason tells us that when the sewage is to be treated, 
the system that furnishes the smallest necessary amount 
of liquid is the most practicable. The separate system 
has the backing of the law in some States. 

The advocates of the separate system claim, among 
other things, that some of the earthy matters carried into 
combined sewers by turbid storm water, particularly de¬ 
posits of road detritus, leaves and twigs, hinders the dis¬ 
charge of the sewage. These deposits when not removed 
by the ordinary flow of sewage or by flushings must 
remain until the next heavy storm, and meanwhile are a 
menace to health. Under the separate system for house 
wastes there are no street openings or catch basins for the 


158 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [506J 

admission of dangerous substances, nor for the escape of 
gas. 

In towns where the houses are at considerable dis¬ 
tances apart, and no very large proportion of the surface 
is paved, the storm water will usually be easily disposed 
of without providing underground channels for it. When 
increased paved area makes it necessary to carry off 
storm water, the sanitary sewer may be enlarged, or spe¬ 
cial conduits may be constructed to carry water to the 
nearest water course within the town, many towns having- 
canals or small streams running through them. The 
details of the plan best adapted to any given require¬ 
ments must be worked out to suit the conditions of that 
special case. 

After study of the various systems, I contend that the 
separate system is particularly valuable in the develop¬ 
ment of small cities, and has the following advantages: 

1. It is not necessary to have sewers of enormous 
diameter. 

2. It permits the use of salt-glazed vitrified pipes, 
with cement joints, which offers much less opportunity 
for absorption than brick and mortar. 

3. Sizes are so proportioned that the sewers will run 
from one-fourth to one-half full, a much higher velocity 
can thus be maintained, and the solid matter carried away 
with great rapidity. 

4. The depth of rain water conduits need not be so 
great as is necessary for combined sewers. 

5. The avoidance of road detritus being washed into 
the sewers. 

6. A more complete net-work admits of economy to 
property owners in making connections. 

7. Old and defective drains can often be fitted to 
carry surface water, but are inappropriate for combined 
sewers. 

8. Sanitary sewers are easily flushed by automatic 


[ 507 ] 


SANITARY SEWERS. 


159 


syphon flush tanks. It would be impossible to flush large 
combined sewers, and rainfall must be depended upon to 
do the cleaning. Consequently, in dry weather, the vol¬ 
ume of water is too small to carry off the solid matter and 
decomposition occurs, and the sewer becomes unsanitary. 

9. When sewage must be pumped or treated chemi¬ 
cally, or put upon the land, the combined system causes 
an immense unwieldy bulk of liquid to be at times 
handled. 

10. The cost of the two systems of conduits (one for 
sanitary sewage and one for storm water) of the separate 
system is generally less than of the one combined system, 
when properly designed. 


TAR-MACADAM PAVEMENTS. 


BY DR. J. W. INCHES, MAYOR OF ST. CLAIR. 


There is probably no greater question with which 
municipalities are called upon to deal than that of pave¬ 
ments. Good water and good sewerage are, of course, 
of more importance, but when once obtained, seldom 
give further trouble; while the problem of pavements is 
always with us, try how we will to settle it, and is very 
perplexing; and this is especially true of small cities, 
where the more expensive forms of pavement are often 
absolutely out of the question on account of their cost. 

It was in this dilemma that the city of St. Clair found 
itself a year ago, with a stretch of over two miles of cedar 
block pavement, twenty years old, and rotted away, until 
for years it had been worse than no pavement at all. 

Brick, asphalt, asphalt-block, and other expensive ma¬ 
terials were, of course, absolutely out of the question 
Avith us. The total amount of money for which our city 
could be bonded was inadequate to construct even a fair 
portion of the street, and it Avas finally decided to make 
an effort to find a pavement at reasonable cost Avith Avhich 
to pave the business portion of the city, and build a plain 
macadam road over the balance. 

We found the solution of our problem in tar¬ 
macadam (so-called), and last spring, although I Avas 
very anxious to get out of office, I accepted a fifth term 
as Mayor, only for the purpose of building about 10,000 
yards of that pavement. 

I found upon investigation that tar-macadam had 
long been used in Hamilton, London and Toronto, Ont., 




[509] 


TAR-MACADAM PA VEKENTS. 


161 


and in some of the cities in England, Scotland and Aus¬ 
tralia. The city of Hamilton, Ont., has, however, prob¬ 
ably had a longer and better experience with it than at 
any other point on this continent, one piece there being 
in very good condition after over twenty years of service, 
with very little expenditure for maintenance. In that 
city, during the four years previous to 1902, over eight 
miles of tar-macadam had been constructed at an average 
cost of about 90 cents per square yard, and up to the time 
of my visit last spring, not a cent had been expended on 
this eight miles for repairs, while asphalt pavements, laid 
upon adjacent streets, four years previous, and having 
been subjected to no heavier traffic, had been a source of 
almost constant expense. Some of these tar-macadam 
streets, after a service of three or four years, appeared to 
be practically as good as when laid, and were apparently 
as satisfactory in every way as any pavement could be 
after the same use. 

James H. Shepard, U. S. Consul at Hamilton, in a 
consular report to the State Department, says: 

“A tar-macadam road has two advantages; the cost is 
from one-third to one-half that of asphalt or vitrified 
brick, and is more enduring than either. 

“Twenty years ago a part of a street was laid with 
tar-macadam, as an experiment, by the gas company in 
this city. It is used by teamsters in hauling heavy loads 
of merchandise from the railway. The manner of doing 
the work was crude in comparison with present-day 
methods, and little labor or money has been expended in 
keeping it in repair, yet the street is still in good condi¬ 
tion. Four years ago a block in the business center of the 
city was selected in which to experiment with the newer 
methods of combining stone and tar in road work. It is 
a block where heavy teaming is done, the largest whole¬ 
sale iron and hardware store in the city fronting on it. 
After four years of hard usage, without a dollar being 


162 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION [ 510 ] 

spent for repairs, that block of road is almost as smooth 
and in as good condition as when first made. The cost 
of construction was 68 cents j)er square yard. Two 
blocks on a business street, much used for heavy teaming, 
which was laid by the gas company ten or twelve years 
ago, have recently been resurfaced at 25 cents per square 
yard, no repairs having been made up to that time. 

“The asphalt pavements put down in this city eight 
years ago, cost more than twice as much as tar-macadam 
to construct, and involved almost constant expense to 
keep in repair. Judging from experience, and with the 
latest methods of combining the material, a tar-macadam 
road will give good service for at least ten years, and it 
can then be resurfaced at a cost not exceeding 25 cents 
per square yard. The tar-macadam road is almost as 
noiseless as asphalt, and is easier on horses, with less jar, 
and no danger from slipping in rainy weather. Another 
advantage is that it is almost dustless.” 

I was accompanied to Hamilton by Mr. F. F. Rogers, 
the engineer in charge of the road machinery department 
of the Port Huron Engine and Thresher Works, who 
had for some time been making a special study of general 
macadam road building. Mr. Rogers was very much 
impressed with what we found in Hamilton, but felt that 
he could construct a road which would be even better 
than anything in that city, at a cost of about $1.25 per 
square yard, and with this end in view, we employed him 
to draw up specifications for us, and decided to advertise 
for bids on tar macadam, plain macadam, brick, asphalt 
and cedar. 

When proposals were opened in April last, we found 


that our lowest bids were as follows: 

Brick, per square yard.$2.00 

Asphalt, per square yard. i.qq 

Cedar on concrete, per square yard. 1.30 

Bituminous macadam, per square yard. . . 1.65 
Plain macadam, per square yard. 1.47 






[ 511 ] TAB-MACADAM PA VEMENTS. 163 

And for tar-macadam, after having well advertised, 
and sent out quite a number of our specifications, 
we received no bids whatever, a fact which was 
explained by contractors, who stated that having had 
no experience with that kind of work, they had 
no data to base a bid upon. Naturally, we were 
very much disappointed, and on calling Mr. Roger’s 
attention to the difference between his estimate and 
the figure we had received, even for plain macadam, he 
stated that he felt that our bid on macadam was so ridic¬ 
ulously high that, although his company was not in the 
business of building pavements, he believed his people 
would undertake our work at a reasonable figure, simply 
to demonstrate what could be done in that line with im¬ 
proved road-making machinery. They had sent a num¬ 
ber of prospective buyers to Hamilton to inspect the 
roads there, and they believed that if they could construct 
a piece of plain macadam, and a piece of tar-macadam, of 
superior quality, in a town close to their works, it would 
be of great value to them as a demonstration of what 
could be done with their machinery. Realizing at once 
that if we could enter into a contract with a large corpor¬ 
ation of the highest standing, whose interest lay in pro¬ 
ducing a road as nearly perfect as possible, as an adver¬ 
tisement for themselves, we would not only be getting 
the most possible for our money, but at the same time be 
getting rid of the greatest danger and source of work and 
worry in having pavements laid by contractors, that of 
seeing that you get what you pay for, we at once opened 
negotiations with the Port Huron Engine and Thresher 
Company, and finally closed a contract with them for 
about 15,000 yards of plain macadam at 85 cents per 
square yard, and 10,000 yards of tar-macadam at $1.25 
per square yard, which price, on tar-macadam was, how¬ 
ever, subsequently raised to $1.40 on account of unfor- 
seen difficulties with our sub-soil. 


m MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [ 512 ] 


Our specifications for tar-macadam called for: 

The usual excavating and grading. 

A first course of limestone, broken so as to pass 
through a 3-inch ring, with no stone of less than i l / 2 inch 
in any diameter. This was spread and rolled to a uni¬ 
form depth of 5 inches, and then covered with a binding 
coat of chips, ranging in size from dust to ^4 inch, which 
was broomed and rolled into the crevices of the larger 
stone until the whole had become a compact mass. 

A second course of tarred stone. This stone was 
crushed from picked field stone, or hard-heads, and 
included all of the product of the crusher which would 
pass through a revolving screen having perforations 2 
inches in diameter. It was then uniformly mixed with a 
suitable quantity of gas-tar and paving pitch, to bind the 
stone together, the specifications providing the quantity 
and quality of each, and then spread upon the street to a 
uniform depth of 4 inches before rolling. It was then 
rolled until no further compacting was possible. 

A third or top course of tarred screenings. This 
course was screenings of hard field stone, or crushed clean 
gravel stone; and after being thoroughly worked up with 
the tar and pitch was spread to a depth of one inch and 
rolled to a smooth surface, or until no further compacting 
into the lower course was possible. This top course was 
finally sprinkled over before rolling, with a thin covering 
of stone dust, which when rolled, gave a lighter and more 
finished appearance, and prevented the surface from be¬ 
coming slippery. 

Between these specifications and those used in all of 
the other cities I heard from, there were some important 
differences. In Hamilton, Port Huron and other places, 
the stone used throughout, in all courses, was limestone; 
while in St. Clair, everything above the base or founda¬ 
tion course was of cobble or field stones, probably two- 
thirds of which in this country are trap-rock. 


[513] 


TAR-MACADAM FA VEMENTS. 


165 


There is also a great difference in the amount of pav¬ 
ing* pitch used in different cities. In St. Clair we used 
about barrel for barrel tar and pitch, which, I was told 
by city officials in Hamilton, was several times as much 
pitch as they used. In fact, the difference in pitch was 
so great that in St. Clair we found it absolutely impos¬ 
sible to mix our second course upon a sweat-board, as it 
is done in Hamilton, and were compelled to resort to a 
power mixer. 

I received a visit in September from Mr. A. J. Heddle, 
assistant city engineer of Hamilton, who has personally 
had charge of all of the tar-macadam laid in that city 
during recent years, and he expressed surprise at the 
amount of pitch we were using, and stated that as our 
road was constructed as well and as carefully as any in 
Hamilton, the fact that we used so much more pitch, and 
especially the fact that we were using hard stone for our 
top or wearing courses, gave us, in his opinion, the finest 
tar-macadam street he had ever seen, and superior to 
those of Scotland, where he had first learned to construct 
that kind of pavement. 

I believe, however, that there were some very serious 
defects in our method of construction. Using the amount 
of pitch which we did, not only compelled us to use a 
power mixer, but rendered it advisable to heat the stone 
before putting it into the mixer, thus rendering it easier 
to mix, and enabling it to remain warm on the street a 
longer time for rolling. To do this we used a direct 
heater, composed of iron plates, having a fire underneath 
them and the stone on top; and right here, I think, lay 
the greatest defect in our method. With a heater of this 
kind it is impossible to prevent the stone at times, or in 
spots, from getting very much overheated, and occasion¬ 
ally a batch of stone would come out of the mixer giving 
forth a heavy yellow smoke, and we soon found that 
wherever this stone was laid we had a spot of worthless 


166 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION' [ 514 ] 


pavement, or one that had very little, if any, cohesive 
power left in it,—the heat of the stone having driven out 
of the tar and pitch the volatile* oils, and the very quali¬ 
ties which made them of value, and for which they were 
used. These spots, of course, had to be taken up and 
replaced, and it is possible that other spots not quite bad 
enough to be detected at once, will develop later on. 

I would, therefore, put it down as one of the most 
important requirements, that wherever the stone is arti- 
fically heated, it be done in a heater of steam coils, a 
revolving cylinder, or some other form of indirect heater 
in which it is impossible to overheat or burn any portion 
of the stone. 

I believe, also, that we used too heavy a roller on our 
finishing coats; and I think that where the base or lower 
course is thoroughly made with a ten or twelve-ton roller, 
a better result will be obtained by using on the finishing- 
courses a roller weighing not over six or seven tons, pro¬ 
vided the work is rolled while warm. 

We had finished when cold weather had set in last 
fall about 7,000 yards of tar-macadam, and so far as we 
were able to judge, it gave every indication of satisfac¬ 
tion. It was smooth, hard, noiseless, practically dustless, 
and as pleasant to drive over as any pavement could be. 
Let me say right here, however, that tar-macadam should 
never be laid between the rails, or close to the rail of a 
street car or railway track. It will not stand the constant 
vibration of the rail, and soon breaks away on the edge, 
leaving a V-shaped rut. Between the rails, and for about 
one foot on each side of them, brick or other rigid mate¬ 
rial should always be used. 

It was not my intention in writing this paper to create 
an impression that we had built a perfect pavement in St. 
Clair, for I am sorry to say we are very far from it. I 
desire simply to call attention to what I consider one of 
the most promising fields for investigation in connection 


[ 515 ] 


TAB-MACADAM PA YEMENI'S. 


107 


with the government of municipalities, and one whicli 
can, I think, be made especially applicable to Michigan. 

In all foreign cities where tar-macadam roads have 
been used, the method of construction is still, I think, 
essentially crude ; and this is especially true of economy 
in labor. Everything has been done by hand, and perfec¬ 
tion and uniformity cannot be obtained in that manner. 
Several firms in this country have, during the past few 
years, recognized the possibilities of tar-macadam, and 
have been building and advertising the so-called bitumin¬ 
ous macadam, of which you have no doubt all heard, and 
which I think is nothing more nor less than a tar¬ 
macadam constructed under scientific and up-to-date 
methods. In the city of Port Huron, four pieces of this 
so-called bituminous macadam pavement have been laid 
in recent years at about $1.75 per square yard, three of 
which carry the same traffic as the tar-macadam laid a 
year previous at $1.12 per square yard, and yet up-to-date 
one is apparently in as good condition as the other. 

It is claimed that a considerable portion of asphalt is 
incorporated with the tar in this bituminous macadam, 
but even if it is, I think it very questionable whether or 
not asphalt gives any great advantage over pitch as a 
binder for a hard stone wearing surface. In Port Huron 
one of the pieces of bituminous macadam is so slippery in 
wet weather that it is said three horses have had to be 
shot as a result of accidents upon it, and we all know that 
asphalt itself is slippery when wet. 

Now, briefly, what are the requirements for, and the 
advantages of tar-macadam, and why is it especially ap¬ 
plicable to Michigan? 

The requirements of tar-macadam are suitable stone, 
gas tar and ordinary paving pitch made from tar. 

The road should he constructed with a hard-wearing 
stone, of which trap-rock is probably the best, and it is in 
this point, I think, that plain or tar-macadam road build- 


168 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION [ 516 ] 


ing is especially applicable to Michigan. I learned a year 
ago from State Geologist A. C. Lane, at Lansing, that 
there are great tracts of the finest quality of trap-rock on 
the southern shore of Lake Superior, situated at the 
water’s edge, and with ideal conditions for crushing and 
transportation. This stone is being crushed and taken 
to Ohio, while Michigan is building roads of soft lime¬ 
stone. 

Many Eastern States are appropriating large sums of 
money for State aid for good roads, and a bill is now 
before Congress giving national aid to good road build¬ 
ing, which, if passed, will give over $700,000 to Mich¬ 
igan for that purpose. If our State would establish a 
good crushing plant on the shores of Lake Superior, em¬ 
ploy the convicts of the Marquette prison, and sell the 
crushed stone at cost, or less, for road building in Michi¬ 
gan, it seems to me that it would be a step in the right 
direction, and one which might aid in bringing about a 
condition under which Michigan would be commented 
upon for her good roads instead of her bad ones. 

Gas tar and paving pitch are produced in large quan¬ 
tities by all the gas companies, and as the market is lim¬ 
ited, they are anxious to do everything in the way of 
quality to procure a greater demand. 

The greatest advantage of tar-macadam over the 
other forms of pavement lie in the cost of construction 
and maintenance. Not only is the total first cost much 
less, but a much larger proportion of the entire outlay 
remains, and is paid out at home as wages for labor, and 
a much smaller proportion is paid to outsiders for mate¬ 
rial. 

In maintenance there is no other form of pavement 
that compares with it; it can be kept in repair at a small 
cost, and with unskilled or local labor, and even when the 
whole surface is worn away it can be entirely resurfaced 
at from 25 to 40 cents per square yard. 


[517] TAR-MACADAM PAVEMENTS. 1G9 

There is nothing to decay about it, as in wood streets; 
and no cracks or spaces to hold decaying matter, and give 
off vapors in drying, as where brick or block is used. 
So far as we know, its life is as long as other pavements, 
and it certainly makes a smooth, noiseless, dustless, and 
very pleasant road to drive over. 

In conclusion, my object in writing this paper, was to 
say that I believe that with further investigation, Ameri¬ 
can ingenuity, the application of machinery and up-to- 
date methods, a pavement can be constructed of hard 
stone, tar and pitch, for the streets of small cities, the 
residence streets of large cities, or any streets not having 
a heavy traffic, which will cost much less to build, last 
fully as long, and in every way be as satisfactory as any 
other form of pavement now in use. 


DISCUSSION. 


A Delegate : I would like to have a little more infor¬ 
mation on this subject of tar-macadam pavements. I 
would like to know whether the figures that Mr. Inches 
gives includes the cost of curbing? 

Mr. Inches : There is no allowance for curbing. 

Q. How do these prices compare with the prices in 
Hamilton ? 

Mr. Inches: The prices in Hamilton are somewhat 
misleading for this reason: They have limestone right 
at Hamilton within the corporate limits, and limestone 
costs them nothing. The prices reported in Hamilton are 
70, 84, and 91 cents a yard, and the highest reported is 
$1.06. Having the stone right at home and having the 
crusher within their corporate limits, they have no freight 
to pay. Therefore, having the crusher right there, and 
having no freight to pay makes a difference of 25 cents 
between the prices in Hamilton and St. Clair. We paid 
$1.90 per cubic yard for crushed limestone, f. o. b. St. 
Clair, and $1.00 was paid for freight. 

While I have the floor, I might add that when we laid 
our pavement last fall, we worked very late in the fall, 
and had to leave a block unrolled. Yesterday a piece of 
that pavement was cleaned off, and it seemed to be just 
as good without any top, and I could not see any differ¬ 
ence whatever. I tried to kick a piece off with my foot, 
but I could not move it at all. 

Q. Where did you secure your pitch? 

A. We secure it in Detroit of the Detroit Gas Co. 

O. Is that similar to tar? 

A. It is the same thing, only one is more refined. We 



[ 519 ] 


TA R-MACADAM PA CEMENTS. 


171 


used about equal parts of tar and pitch. I think it makes 
a better road, only it is a little more expensive. 

Q. Did you infer from your experience that field 
stone would make a better first layer than sand stone ? 

A. I did not see that it made any difference at all; 
there is no friction on the foundation layers. 

Q. Did it make a better top ? 

A. Certainly; I think a tar-macadam road would be 
of very little use with a limestone top. 

Q. Do you use high class cement? 

Mr. Inches: We have no cement. I believe our 
pavements would be better if they had a telford base. 
Our engineer estimated that it would cost a little more. 

One thing we have in St. Clair that many cities have 
not, is a system whereby the city cleans the sidewalks in 
the winter time. We had eighteen men working last 
week, and there was no time during the last month when 
for twenty-four hours the sidewalks were covered up. I 
estimated the cost last winter for cleaning the sidewalks, 
and it cost us 6*4 cents on every $1,000 of our assess¬ 
ment. 

When I went in office for the first term, one of the 
things that I advocated was cement walks all over town. 
The most expensive thing that St. Clair has had in past 
years has been the construction and maintenance of board 
walks. We originally estimated that it would cost 6*4 
cents to lay a plank walk, and whenever we laid a cement 
walk the property owner paid 6 % cents, and the city the 
balance. When the people petition for a new walk the 
people that live along that sidewalk pay the entire cost, 
and the city keeps it up forever after. 

Q. What is the cost of cement walks? 

A. We have paid 9, 9J 4 , 10 and n cents. I do not 
think it is wise to go under 10 cents for a cement walk. 

Mayor Jacob Martin, of Monroe: We have a dif¬ 
ferent system in Monroe. Our council passed an 


172 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [520] 


ordinance last year not allowing any other kind 
of walk than cement to be put down. We have a side¬ 
walk contractor in Monroe, and the city pays three cents 
per foot towards the cost. The total price this year is 
9 cents per square foot; the property owner pays 6 cents, 
and the city 3 cents. 

PUBLIC LIGHTING. 

A Delegate: I should like to know if there is any 
delegate present whose city has a municipal electric plant 
or a municipal gas plant; and if figures can be furnished 
one in regard to the cost of each. 

President Bible: Ypsilanti has a municipal electric 
light plant; and if there is a representative from that city 
here, he may give you the figures. 

Mr. Inches : We have had an electric light plant in 
St. Clair for the last ten years, and it has been very satis¬ 
factory indeed. It is operated in connection with the 
waterworks, and we have invested in it something like 
$2,500. 

President Bible: Ypsilanti has the best report of 
any city I have received out of sixty-two. Ypsilanti has 
invested $18,000 in a lighting plant, and they charge 
$29.80 for light until two o’clock in the morning. 

0 . What is their power? 

E. H. Colby, of Ypsilanti : We have water power, 
and we have 120 lights. I think the reason we have 
cheap light is because of our water power. There is not 
three months in the year that we have occasion to use 
steam. We have steam power, and it can be used if 
necessary, but it is seldom necessary to use it, and con¬ 
sequently the electric power is much cheaper than if we 
had to use steam. 

A Delegate: I should like to ask if any one can tell 
what is the best method of measuring electricity and gas ? 

F. F. Ingram : I may give some information in regard 
to electric lighting, but I know very little so far as the gas 


[ 521 ] 


PUBLIC LIGHTING. 


173 


business is concerned. I am on the Public Lighting Com¬ 
mission in Detroit, but we have no occasion to measure 
gas, for our charter does not permit us to sell it. We 
have had occasion to estimate the amount of electricity 
consumed, and 1 have come to the conclusion that the 
only logical way for a city to determine the amount of 
electricity is by the employment of the Watt meter, to 
be attached to the different circuits. There are other 
methods, but the results obtained are always the subject 
of disputes. The Watt meter is absolutely accurate. I 
could not attempt to state the price, but it is not an 
expensive machine at all. It is a machine of moderate 
price. If a city had a machine of that kind, and some 
one in the city capable of running it, the character of the 
light would be more uniform. As an illustration, a cer¬ 
tain city had some difficulty with their electric light 
company some weeks ago, and they wrote to me asking 
me if I could assist them in regard to establishing the 
strength of the current. The city officials claimed that 
they were not getting the quality of light that they were 
paying for, and the electric light company was just as 
emphatic that they were. A litigation was threatened, 
when at this stage they wrote to us, and we sent a 
machine up there in charge of a man, and several tests 
were taken in the presence of the city officials, and the 
bills were afterwards promptly settled. 

Geo. C. Hafford, of Albion : We had somewhat the 
same experience in Albion. At the present time we have 
a new system of street lighting, a new rewiring and a 
new system of lamps. We have in our city hall an in¬ 
strument for recording the voltage every twenty-four 
hours. Previous to this time we had the same trouble 
as was experienced in the illustration that Mr. Ingram 
gave. We complained to the company, and they replied 
by taking a Watt meter and showing us the amount of 
the voltage. We retaliated by getting an electrician from 


174 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [522] 


Jackson to come down and take the voltage. But I think 
we now have a very much better system. 

Mr. Inches : We have had a peculiar experience in 
St. Clair. We had a great many complaints as to the 
lamps not burning right. They would burn brown after 
they had been put in but a short time. I kept whacking 
away at the superintendent, thinking that the voltage 
was too low. About a week ago we took a voltage 
meter and found that 118 volts were being sent over the 
wires into 102-volt lights. The trouble was that the 
voltage was too high instead of too low, and the result 
was just as disastrous, if not more so. 

Mr. Nellis, Mayor of Wyandotte : We have had 
an electric light plant in Wyandotte for the last three 
years, and it has been self-sustaining. We have a rate 
of 10 cents per watt hour, with a discount of 40 per cent, 
if paid on or before the 15th of the month, making a net 
rate of 6 cents. 


THE WATER SUPPLY OF CITIES. 


BY V. C. VAUGHAN, DEAN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF MEDI¬ 
CINE AND SURGERY, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN. 

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen, —I will make this 
talk as brief and practical as possible. Drinking water 
must come from one or the other of the following 
sources : (i) It must be rain water collected on the roofs 

of buildings, and stored in cisterns: (2) Or surface 
water that falls on the ground and flows over the ground, 
or under the ground, for a short distance, and is then col¬ 
lected in rivers, lakes, ponds, or other bodies of water: 
(3) Or it must be a subterranean water. I make the 
following distinction between surface and subterranean 
waters: A surface water is one that is collected above 
the first impervious geological formation, while a subter¬ 
ranean water is one collected below the first impervious 
geological formation. For practical purposes I think we 
may leave out all of these except surface waters. So far 
as I know there is no city of any size in the world supplied 
with rain water and likewise no city supplied with sub¬ 
terranean waters. Practically, therefore, we have for 
municipal supplies only surface water. This may be 
taken from rivers, lakes, springs, or shallow wells. 

Possibly it might be well to say a few words concern¬ 
ing the diseases that are distributed by means of water, 
or those generally known as waterborne diseases. The 
two great diseases that are so frequently distributed by 
water are Asiatic cholera and typhoid fever. Practically 
we may omit any discussion of Asiatic cholera, and give 



176 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [524] 


our attention wholly to typhoid fever. This disease 
is frequently, though by no means always, spread 
through infected drinking water. It may be inter¬ 
esting to inquire to what extent this disease prevails, 
and what we may hope for in its restriction. There 
die in this country each year from typhoid fever 
alone not less than 50,000 people, while the number of sick 
is not less than 500,000. We may attempt to estimate 
the ravages of this disease in dollars and cents. We may 
say that the life of each adult individual,—and practically 
only adults die of this disease,—is worth to the state one 
thousand dollars. In the days of slavery in our southern 
states a good healthy man sold for one thousand dollars. 
It is estimated that the average cost of rearing a child 
from the cradle to the time when it becomes self support¬ 
ing is at least one thousand dollars. If this estimate be 
within the range of truth, then 50,000 deaths from this 
disease each year costs the state fifty millions of dollars. 

But in addition to this there are five hundred thousand 
people sick. Let us suppose that the time of each one of 
these individuals is worth a dollar a day, and that there 
must be for each one sick at least one nurse, and we will 
suppose that the service of the nurse is worth a dollar a 
day. Then it must be that for these five hundred thousand 
people sick the cost is one million dollars per day. Now 
the average duration of the period of incapacity for work 
induced by typhoid fever is not less than 40 days. There¬ 
fore the cost of this illness may be estimated at forty 
millions of dollars. The loss by death and the loss by 
sickness therefore amount to not less than ninety millions 
of dollars annually. This is the tribute that we, the 
people of the United States, are paying for our ignorance 
or carelessness in permitting the continued existence of 
typhoid fever. I dare say that when the historian of the 
future comes to write of the first years of the twentieth 


[ 525 ] 


THE WATER SUPPLY OF CITIES . 


177 


century he will have no trouble in making his readers 
believe that we who lived at this time did not possess that 
high degree of intelligence of which we frequently 
boasted. He will tell you that we frequently drank the 
water which we polluted with our own excrement, and he 
will point to the deaths from typhoid fever as convincing 
proof of his statement. It is unnecessary for me to say 
more on this point. 

It is the duty of every municipality to provide for its 
citizens a perfectly safe drinking water. This can be 
done and it should be done. I can make no general state¬ 
ment other than to say that the problems which present 
themselves are local ones, and must be studied, each on its 
own merits. On the one hand, there is no purer water 
in the world than surface water, while on the other hand 
it is equally true that there is no more dangerous water, 
so far as health and life of the consumer is concerned, 
than surface water. Moreover, there is no surface water 
in the world so pure that it may not be contaminated, and 
made not only unfit for drinking purposes, but absolutely 
dangerous to life and health. There is no body of purer 
water in the world than that of Lake Superior, and yet 
the people of Duluth in 1896 took their water supply 
from this lake and ran their sewage into the same water 
within 100 yards of the intake of the water supply. The 
result was more than two thousand cases of typhoid fever. 

Similar, if less striking, instances might be multiplied 
quite indefinitely. It is held by some that there should be 
in each state legal enactments providing against the foul¬ 
ing of streams. It seems to me that this question is a 
very complex one, and, as I stated a moment ago, local 
conditions must always be taken into consideration. The 
State of Massachusetts has attempted in this way to pro¬ 
tect its citizens against typhoid fever, but the result cannot 
be said to be altogether satisfactory. This disease still 


178 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [526] 

prevails not only in the large manufacturing centers of 
that state, but in smaller cities, villages, and among the 
rural inhabitants. Just now^there is a law suit on 
between the State of Missouri and the City of Chicago 
concerning the drainage canal, through which the sewage 
of Chicago is emptied into the Illinois river, from which 
it flows into the Mississippi, and thence into the reservoir 
at St. Louis. However, without the sewage of Chicago, 
the water of the Mississippi River at St. Louis is not safe 
for drinking purposes, and should be filtered, and I can¬ 
not see that it would cost any more to filter the water at 
St. Louis with the Chicago drainage in it than without 
this source of pollution. In other words, the water of the 
Mississippi River at St. Louis is not fit for drinking pur¬ 
poses without filtration whether Chicago pours its sewage 
through the drainage canal or otherwise disposes of it. 

It is now a well known fact that however impure the 
water of a river may be, it can be rendered safe by filtra¬ 
tion, and I think on the whole it will be found to be quite 
as easy and much safer for a city to filter its water than 
for it to try by legal enactment or in any other way to 
patrol a stream of any great length, or a watershed of 
extensive area. You are aware of the fact that there 
are two kinds of filtration in use, and both of these are 
fairly satisfactory. The system of slow sand filtration is 
probably the better, but is much more expensive and 
requires greater engineering skill. One of the best 
examples of this kind of filter is the one recently built by 
Mr. Hazen for Albany, New York. The other system, 
known as rapid filtration, is, when intelligently managed, 
satisfactory in its results. There are many cities, some 
of them of great size, so situated that filtration of the 
municipal water supply is absolutely necessary. So far 
as I know, all of these cities have a low death rate. 

Every city should have a well educated engineer to 


[527] 


THE WATER SUPPLY OF CITIES. 


179 


manage its water works, and also a competent bacteriolo¬ 
gist to make frequent examination of the drinking water 
supply. The hygienic laboratory of the University of 
Michigan makes such examinations for municipalities in 
this state. The cost is less than when the city does it for 
itself. I can mention a number of places in Michigan in 
which, notwithstanding the fact that the water supply is 
exposed to contamination, the management has been so 
skillfully and wisely done that epidemics of typhoid fever 
have been wholly avoided. I believe that it is possible in 
the great majority of instances to decide positively after 
a bacteriological examination whether a given water is 
safe or not. However, I suppose it would not be wise 
for me to go into the technicalities of a bacteriological 
examination of drinking water. There is one point 
which I wish to emphasize, and that is, although a water 
may be perfectly safe today, it is liable to contamination 
next week or next month, and it must not be concluded 
because a water is once pronounced safe that it will always 
continue in this class. 

This is a subject in which I am greatly interested, and 
one about which I am likely to say too much when I once 
get started. Therefore, thanking you for your kind 
attention, I will close. 


DISCUSSION. 


Mayor J. W. Inches, of St. Clair: I think that 
one of the great hindrances to advancement along the line 
suggested by Prof. Vaughan is that it is almost impos¬ 
sible to get the medical profession at any time to agree 
upon a diagnosis of any condition when there is trouble of 
that kind. Dr. Vaughan has told you that the payment 
of this ninety million tribute would not be necessary if 
every man did his duty. In St. Clair about eight years 
ago, in a little town of only three thousand inhabitants, 
we had typhoid fever break out and we had a terrible 
epidemic. It came from our water. We had three hun¬ 
dred cases of illness, and the majority of us said it was 
typhoid fever. Investigation developed that the water 
pipe had broken off right under the dock in a nest of filth 
and we had the cause right there. It was the only dis¬ 
ease that could come from that source. But there were 
one or two physicians who said that there was not a case 
of typhoid fever in town. They said that they had never 
seen a case of typhoid fever in that town. Typhoid had 
been an epidemic there and had never been out of the town 
for ten years. We were panic stricken and we finally 
applied to the State Board of Health, and they sent an 
expert and he made an investigation and declared it was 
not typhoid fever. Our people were panic stricken and 
they said, what are we to do ? 

Just at that time one of the physicians in St. Clair who 
had declared there was no typhoid in St. Clair had a 
patient die. He sent for Dr. Vaughan and he came and 
saw the patient. Another physician came to me and said, 
now we will have this matter settled. Dr. Vaughan 



[529] 


THE WATER SUPPL Y OF CITIES. 


181 


came; he saw the patient, and he looked at half a dozen 
other cases. We asked him for his verdict. Is it typhoid 
fever? Dr. Vaughan said: “I would not care to say.” 
It was put in this man’s death certificate and went upon 
record that he had died of inflammation of the brain from 
drinking this water. As soon as Dr. Vaughan left the 
city the report went all over town that Dr. Vaughan had 
been to our town and could not say it was typhoid. And 
the men who said that it was typhoid went down in igno¬ 
minious defeat, and the doctors who said that it was not 
typhoid fever were the most lauded men in town that 
night. And when I advocated sending the pipe out seven 
hundred feet into the stream I was confronted with the 
statement, that it was not typhoid fever. I had a long 
stiff fight to get that pipe into the river. 

But after Dr. Vaughan went home the Free Press 
came out with the statement “Epidemic in St. Clair not 
Typhoid. Dr. Vaughan was there yesterday and said it 
was not Typhoid.” That was too much for Dr. Vaughan. 
He immediately telephoned to the Free Press that he had 
not said it. 

If ever the time comes when the medical profession 
will agree on a diagnosis, and the time will be too near 
the millenium to take any action, and if every man will do 
his duty, especially the great men among the medical 
profession, I will agree with Dr. Vaughan that there need 
be no fear of typhoid fever. 


SOME REQUISITES OF A GOOD CITY 
CHARTER. 


BY ELVIN SWARTHOUT, OF THE COMMON COUNCIL OF 
GRAND RAPIDS. 


It is not the purpose of the writer of this paper to 
attempt a discussion of any considerable number of the 
multiplied subjects which are generally included in the 
charter of a city. That there should be a Mayor, council, 
the necessary executive boards and commissions, and the 
various needful city officers goes without saying. Each 
and every modern progressive city must perforce provide 
its corporate machinery. Provision must be made for po¬ 
lice and fire protection, for street lighting, for water sup¬ 
ply, for parks, for the care and succor of the poor, for 
health and sanitation, for sewers, for the improvement and 
maintenance of walks, streets and highways, for schools, 
libraries, museums and courts, for cemeteries, for the 
building of docks and bridges, providing for and regulat¬ 
ing transportation, for the supervision of the liquor 
traffic, and the suppression of vice and immorality, for 
insuring safety in the construction of buildings,—a sub¬ 
ject tremendously emphasized by the recent Iroquois hor¬ 
ror—for the raising of revenues, and for the economical 
and business-like use of the same. A mere enumeration 
in detail of the various subjects of municipal jurisdiction 
would take all the time allotted to the reading of this 
paper, and would be of no value here and now. 

As students of civic conditions we are more inter¬ 
ested in questions relating to the way and manner in 
which the city shall perform its functions than in the 




[ 531 ] 


A GOOD CITY CHARTER. 


183 


narration of what those functions are. We are more 
concerned in the problem who shall perform, and how 
shall be performed the various public duties and works 
that the corporation must engage in, than in what those 
functions are. It is therefore my purpose to discuss some 
of these questions of municipal public policy, and my 
selection of subjects is made almost at random, and with 
no idea that I have covered the whole field, or with 
thoroughness any portion of the field, for that matter. 

The purpose of this meeting is to learn better ways 
of doing things, and our study of methods is actuated by 
the purpose of bettering conditions in city government. 
Bryce’s oft-quoted statement, “The government of cities 
is the one conspicuous failure of the United States/’ is 
constantly in mind. If Bryce had written twenty years 
later he would have had even more ample proof of his 
assertion, and he had proof enough when he wrote. 
During the past decade the country has passed through 
a perfect orgy of municipal rottenness. Mayors, coun¬ 
cils, boards, courts, and electors have wallowed in the 
slime of municipal corruption, until city politics, like the 
king’s crime in Hamlet, '‘smells to heaven.” Grafting is 
no longer a fine art practiced with skill by political Tally- 
rands and Macchiavellis, but it has become a trade, which 
the political boss and pot-house politician work at almost 
in the open. 

It is with no small modesty that I—an alderman from 
Grand Rapids—consent to speak on this subject. Doubt¬ 
less the question on every tongue before me is, “Can any 
good come out of Nazareth?” And so I hasten to admit 
that I do not claim the Grand Rapids charter as a model. 
In fact, the council has recently adopted a resolution in¬ 
structing the Mayor to appoint a charter commission to 
revise thoroughly a charter which, being the result of 
not less than 150 distinct legislative enactments is, need- 


184 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [532] 

less to say, like the wandering minstrel in the ‘‘Mikado,” 
a “thing of shreds and patches.” 

I must be allowed to say this for Grand Rapids: 
First, that even in the palmy days of the festive boodler 
it has not yet appeared that the disciples of graft ever 
seriously intended to saddle a water contract on the 
city, but that their greed carried them not further than 
transferring filthy lucre from the pockets of gullible New 
York and Omaha financiers. This they did in a most 
artistic manner. Second, had they succeeded in closing 
up a twenty-year contract for water supply, it is more 
than likely that the courts would have declared the agree¬ 
ment invalid under a charter provision inhibiting the 
council from making contracts for a longer period than 
one year. Third, unlike most boodle cities, in Grand 
Rapids the guilty men are being punished. By reason 
of the tireless and able efforts of Assistant Prosecuting 
Attorney Ward, who hews to the line, the chips falling 
where they will, it begins to appear that no grafter, be 
he high or low, is going to escape. The most encourag¬ 
ing feature about this whole subject of graft is that graft¬ 
ers are beginning to be exposed and punished, and even 
where the courts fail to bring the culprits to proper pun¬ 
ishment they are being spitted and roasted over the fires 
of public indignation in such a manner that grafting as 
a business, is coming into the ignominy it so richly 
deserves. 

THE COUNCIL AND THE MAYOR. 

Seth Low, writing in 1888, declared that the munici¬ 
pal legislature “may fairly be said to be the great un¬ 
solved organic problem in connection with municipal gov¬ 
ernment in the United States.” That the truth of these 
strictures is conceded on all hands is shown by the calen¬ 
dars of every State Legislature in the country. Charter 
tinkering, ripper legislation, and general cussedness 


[ 533 ] 


A GOOD CITY CHA RTER. 


185 


touching the matter of council prerogatives, form the 
great bulk of the bills brought to the attention of the leg¬ 
islative bodies of every commonwealth in the Union. 

Much as we vaunt ourselves on our free government, 
the fact remains that in the matter of municipal adminis¬ 
tration American cities are away behind British and con¬ 
tinental municipalities in the wisdom, effectiveness and 
economy of local government. 

The reasons for this are not hard to find. In the first 
place, our cities are almost altogether the product of the 
last fifty years. Their growth has been phenomenal and 
unprecedented. From the necessities of the case great 
undertakings in the way of water plants, sewers, pave¬ 
ments, lighting systems, parks and other municipal works 
have had to be rushed through helter skelter ; and even 
if the man with his hand behind his back had not been 
in evidence, mistakes would have been made and losses 
suffered. Moreover, no one could tell in which direction 
or to what extent a city was going to grow, and hence 
public works could not be accurately and exactly planned 
to meet future exigencies. Again, our cities are made up 
in large part of foreign populations. It is said that 80 
per cent, of New York is foreign-born or children of 
foreigners. These immigrants come without experience 
in popular government; and hence they are, in the major¬ 
ity of instances, the easy tool of the political boss, the 
ward-heeler and the pot-house politician. Furthermore, 
the American theory that all men are created equal is 
worked to death in city politics, where the citizen of 
mediocre talent can most easily find a field for his opera¬ 
tions. He is at home in his own ward, and there it is 
that he can exercise his “inflooence.” And he has sadly 
“got in his work” in this field. In fact, he has cultivated 
the field to such an extent that the better class of citizen 
has come to the conclusion that his own private business 
demands his attention so closely that he hasn’t time to 


180 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [ 534 ] 


clip into city politics. This last reason applies more par¬ 
ticularly to the Common Council than to any other de¬ 
partment of municipal administration, until in many cities 
of the country it is regarded as “a badge of fraud”— 
as the lawyers say—to be a member of that body. No 
wonder that this reputation has been gained, when one 
remembers the frightful history of the Tweed ring and 
Tammany Hall in New York, of the gas rings in Phila¬ 
delphia, of the street car gang in Chicago, and the sand 
lot frauds in San Francisco,—not to come nearer home. 

As a remedy for corruption in the municipal legisla¬ 
ture, two general plans have been proposed and applied 
in some or all of the cities of the country. The first to 
be mentioned, although not the first in chronological 
order, is the plan of taking away power from the council 
and transferring it to the Mayor, or to various boards 
or commissions. 

Originally the Common Council was the most hon¬ 
orable and the most important arm of municipal govern¬ 
ment. But as commercialism has swallowed up the activ¬ 
ities of the average American, he has been less and less 
willing to perform the duties he owes to the city. Un¬ 
worthy men have therefore drifted into the once honor¬ 
able position of alderman, and rather than again take up 
the minor burdens of citizenship the conservative men 
who manage party destinies, or ring politicians with less 
worthy motives, have betaken themselves to the State 
Legislatures, and rushed through ripper bills, or created 
a multiplicity of boards and commissions until the aver¬ 
age city council is now shorn of its whilom important 
powers, and hence, as one writer has said, the council 
has come to bear about the same relation to the body 
politic of the city as the vermiform appendix bears to the 
human body. Its presence becomes manifest only on the 
occasion of what might be termed an attack of “coun- 
cilitis,” caused most frequently by the absorption of food 


[535] 


A GOOD CITY CHARTED. 


187 


which is not legally digestible in the aldermanic stomach. 
Municipal doctors, the writer continues, have been in the 
habit of prescribing an operation similar to that which 
the surgeons have so frequently prescribed for human 
patients, i. e., cutting away the offending member. 

Seth Low has been the chief surgeon in applying the 
knife to the powers of the council. He gave this regimen 
practical test under the remodeled Brooklyn charter when 
he served as Mayor of that city. While, of course, mat¬ 
ters have been greatly changed in Brooklyn and New 
York since the time Mr. Low served as Mayor of the 
former, by the organization of the municipality known 
as “Greater New York,” the fact remains that the Brook¬ 
lyn plan has had a great influence on American municipal 
life. The Boston and Philadelphia charters and many 
others have since been remodeled upon the Brooklyn plan. 
Under this scheme the Mayor appoints absolutely, with¬ 
out confirmation by the council, all the executive heads 
of departments. He appoints, for example, the police 
commissioner, the fire commissioner, the health commis¬ 
sioner, the commissioner of public works, the city attor¬ 
ney, treasurer, tax collector, and in general, all the offi¬ 
cials who are charged with executive duties. Each one 
of these great executive departments is under a single 
head, the charter conforming absolutely to the theory that 
where executive work is to be done it should be com¬ 
mitted to the charge of one man. Likewise the board of 
assessors, the board of education, and the board of elec¬ 
tions are also appointed by the Mayor without confirma¬ 
tion by the board of aldermen, but for terms not coter¬ 
minous with his own, so that in most cases, no single 
Mayor would appoint the whole of any such board unless 
he were to be twice elected by the people,—a plan, by the 
way, that works mighty poorly when a bad man happens 
to get into office for a period of years; he can extend his 
corrupt administration for many years after the people 


188 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [ 536 ] 


have arisen against him in their wrath. The plan has 
shorn the council of all executive powers, and the various 
commissioners are given a large portion of the powers 
theretofore exercised by the council. 

The practical results of this plan are that a strong 
executive can accomplish good results; and a weak one can 
disappoint every hope. Most theorists on governmental 
problems agree that the very best form of government is 
an absolute monarchy or a dictatorship, provided an ideal 
and supremely wise monarch or dictator can be found. 
But the experience of the world has been that such are 
very scarce. And on this account republican form of 
government has been gaining its way ever since our fore¬ 
fathers set the example. The reaction from the Brooklyn 
plan has already set in. The idea is too extreme. It is 
hardly in consonance with the American theory of gov¬ 
ernment. Besides there are too many Crokers and 
Tweeds and Quays still on earth. And such a plan of 
organization, once in the hands of the boss, is the best plan 
possible through which he can work his nefarious ends. 

The second remedy against aldermanic corruption is 
the bicameral system, or double house organization of the 
municipal legislature. This is not a new plan. It 
is adapted, of course, from the plan upon which the Fed¬ 
eral and State Legislatures are organized. However, the 
plan is far more ancient than our Federal government. 
For 600 years such a division of authority has been in 
vogue in the government of the city of London. The 
aldermen, or head men of the guilds, are elected by the 
people, and constitute one house; while the Common 
Council, likewise elected by the people, constitute the 
other. John Fiske describes it as a truly representative 
republic, and adds that the legislative power of the coun¬ 
cil “within the city is practically supreme. Parliament 
does not think of overruling it. And the city govern¬ 
ment thus constituted is one of the most clean-handed 


[ 637 ] 


A GOOD CITY CHARTER. 


189 


and efficient in the world.” Recently the double-house 
plan has been adopted by the city of Buffalo, after having 
tried the single house method for over 50 years. Other 
American cities employing it are: Philadelphia, St. 
Louis, Boston, Baltimore, Pittsburg, Louisville, Cam¬ 
bridge, Allegheny, Dallas, Denver, Erie, Lowell, Rich¬ 
mond, Worcester, Mass., Wilmington, and generally the 
cities of New England and Pennsylvania. While Indi¬ 
anapolis, Syracuse, Rochester, Burlington, Iowa, and 
New York have its equivalent in a more or less practical 
or satisfactory form. 

The argument in favor of the bicameral system is in 
brief as follows: The single chamber, without the check 
of a reviewing body, becomes irresponsible in its abso¬ 
lute independence. Taking it for granted that the author¬ 
ity of the council should be increased and not diminished, 
then in proportion as the powers are increased, the ele¬ 
ment of delay, of adequate deliberation should be in¬ 
creased. Mr. John Boyd Thatcher calls this “the most 
blessed merit” of the double council plan. The danger 
of the single council system is found principally in hasty 
and secret legislation. The beauty of the bicameral 
scheme is that it prevents impetuous and ill-advised leg¬ 
islation, each house acting as a check upon the passions 
and self-interest of the other. Even when there is a pro¬ 
vision in the city charter that appropriations and similar 
matters shall lie over a given length of time, nevertheless 
when they come up for final passage they are considered 
by the same men, in the same frame of mind, and guided 
by the same motives, convictions and interests. The 
delay of the double system, however, entails greater pub¬ 
licity, fresh thought, and a new point of view. Again, 
if—as is usually the case—the second house is elected 
not according to ward limits, but at large, from the whole 
city, the members are quite apt to be of a higher average 
of ability, judgment and character, than the members of 


190 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [ 538 ] 

the board selected according to the wards. This would 
be especially true if the nominations were made direct by 
the people, without the instrumentality of the city con¬ 
vention. Moreover, the body which is elected at large 
from the city will not be given to log-rolling in the same 
way that ward aldermen are tempted to swap votes in 
order to get through local improvements. 

From such study as I have been able to give the sub¬ 
ject, I do not gather that either of these plans of avoiding 
the influence of boodle in the council has met with un¬ 
qualified success. The first is un-American and subject 
to gross abuse in the hands of an unprincipled Mayor. 
The second is too cumbersome and expensive. A nation 
or a State, covering a wide expanse of territory, pos¬ 
sessed of varied interests, and a large population, is 
wisely governed by two houses. But this is no argument 
that a city, which is a corporation, needs two boards of 
directors any more than a railroad or a big manufactur¬ 
ing corporation. I believe in a single council with large 
power. Such a body is in a position to give the most 
efficient government, having in view, at the same time, 
the representative theory upon which American institu¬ 
tions are founded. A single board is more economical, 
both as regards the actual cost in salaries, and also 
as regards the practical work necessary to bring the two 
bodies in harmony. Much log-rolling and pandering to 
selfish and individual interests are necessary in order to 
get two houses united on a single proposition. More¬ 
over, a single legislative body would help to define re¬ 
sponsibility. There is then no chance of laying the 
responsibility for an action upon the other chamber. It 
should be the purpose of the charter builder to make re¬ 
sponsibility clear and distinct. No chance should be per¬ 
mitted for shifting the burden. We shall succeed best 
the more closely we adhere to this idea. It is in munici¬ 
pal matters the same as it was in the garden. Adam put 


[ 539 ] 


A GOOD CITY CHARTER. 


191 


off the blame on Eve; and Eve, in turn, unloaded it on 
the Devil. The system should be of such a character that 
all men may know, without the trouble of inquiry, 
whether the blame is at Adam's, Eve’s or the Devil’s 
door. 

When the ordinance-making power is distributed be¬ 
tween limited councils, commissions, boards and single 
officers, conflict, confusion and needless litigation are the 
natural and inevitable result. Laws which all the citi¬ 
zens of the town must obey certainly ought to be enacted 
by a competent body having general jurisdiction, after 
public debate in an open forum. As one writer has said 1 : 
“Quite generally in all American cities, by reason of the 
lack of any competent council, ordinances are made in a 
semi-secret manner, by some authority, some commission, 
board, or officers having only a limited jurisdiction— 
without conferring with those at the head of other parts 
of the administration, or even the hearing of representa¬ 
tives of the city or its people. Besides, large parts of the 
administration are not regulated by ordinances at all, as 
justice and good administration require they should be; 
for where good ordinances end in municipal administra¬ 
tion despotic or corrupt official favoritism generally be¬ 
gins.’’ 

Thus, for the regulation of the police force of New 
York there are more than 520 ordinances, which deeply 
affect the most varied public interests and official duties. 
These were enacted by the police board without any pub¬ 
lic discussion. Likewise the board of health of the same 
city have adopted 200 ordinances, which profoundly affect 
important private interests and rights. Such matters as 
these are deserving of the best thought, and the greatest 
publicity which could be given them, by an able body of 
councilmen. The evils of this hydra-headed system were 


^aton, The Government of Municipalities, p. 262 . 



J92 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [540] 

shown by the situation in Grand Rapids regarding a new 
water supply. Under the city charter this matter is left 
in the hands of the board of public works. At a session 
of the council an alderman introduced a resolution re¬ 
questing the board to desist from further expenditure of 
funds in promoting any of the thirteen water schemes 
now before the board. But the council could only request 
the board to stop this foolishness. The board can, under 
the charter, keep right on expending the funds of the 
department, which should be used in paying its debts, in 
explorations, surveys, and paying for the opinions of 
experts. Think of a business concern working at cross 
purposes in this way! 

The motto of the People’s Municipal League of New 
York is: 

“Municipal Government is Business, not Politics.” 

In the conduct of city affairs I think we would do 
well to follow the example of men of business. When a 
corporation is formed all power is not turned over to its 
president. Neither is authority divided up between two 
directorates, or transferred to a half-dozen different 
boards. But the board of directors is made the govern¬ 
ing body. Their will is absolute. And when the stock¬ 
holders are looking for directors they do not select men 
who are out of a job, or who have proved their unworth¬ 
iness in everything they have undertaken. On the con¬ 
trary, the stockholders elect the very best men of their 
number—the most experienced, the most trustworthy, 
the most able. Such men should be sought as aldermen. 
And with such men on the board the people can with 
safety commit to their care the large powers and interests 
which are now committed to a half-dozen different boards 
or to individual officers. If the council is elevated and 
dignified in its prerogatives and powers, it is fair to pre¬ 
sume the responsibility of the office of aldermen. At 
least, this is the experience of European cities. Dr. Shaw, 


[ 541 ] 


A GOOD CITY CHARTER. 


193 


in his work on Municipal Government in Great Britain, 
says, “To be a member of the council is to hold a position 
of honor, a position which no man affects to despise. 
The councillors as a rule are representatives of the best 
elements of business life. They are men of intelligence, 
character, and of practical conversance with affairs. By 
the common consent of the community none but men of 
worth, who have made their way to a good standing 
among their neighbors, are regarded as eligible for the 
council.” The facts go to show that many of the first 
men in England’s political life are, or have been, mem¬ 
bers of the London council. 

There is a logical and necessary, and a large place for 
a council in a city government. It has prerogatives grow¬ 
ing out of the necessities of the case. If these are not 
performed in the council chamber, they will be performed 
by the politicians at a State capital. A legislature can¬ 
not know local conditions, and the vast majority of that 
body care nothing for the interests of the city in ques¬ 
tion, and this majority will not scruple to sacrifice munic¬ 
ipal interests to partisan politics. Moreover, without a 
powerful council the necessary distinction between legis¬ 
lation and administration cannot be preserved. There is 
need of a policy determining power, made up in a man¬ 
ner to be close to the people, and answerable directly to 
the people, and its prerogatives in legislative lines should 
be so broad as to attract able men to its membership. 

On the other hand, the policy determining power 
should not be the administering power. The executive 
should be wholly distinct from the legislative arm. The 
council is the body which raises the revenues of the city 
and grants the supplies. It therefore possesses, and should 
possess, great powers, and holds a potent check on the ex¬ 
ecutive. Administrative functions should be so centered 
that one man, the Mayor, shall stand squarely before the 
people as responsible for the good or bad government of 


194 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION [542] 


the city. Administrative boards should be subject to his 
dictation, and their members should hold their positions 
at his will. He should be held directly responsible to the 
people for every administrative act in the entire city gov¬ 
ernment. 

FRANCHISES. 

The power to grant franchises to public utility cor¬ 
porations is to-day probably the most important prerog¬ 
ative of a city government. The development of public 
service corporations is a recent feature of urban life. In 
the majority of our cities only the first crop of franchises 
has been sown. When these privileges were granted the 
companies under them were looked upon largely as ex¬ 
periments, and franchises were generally freely granted 
as an inducement for the construction of the particular 
public work under discussion. The city was on the giv¬ 
ing hand, and the council gave with wonderful prodigal¬ 
ity. Only recently has it been found that street railway 
and like franchises were assets of great value. But fre¬ 
quently this has been ascertained after the cat was out of 
the bag. Moreover, the restrictions on the Common 
Council in matters of franchise granting are in many, 
if not most instances, lamentably meager, if not wholly 
insignificant. 

For example, if a student of the charter of the city 
of Grand Rapids should be asked to put his finger on the 
section which gives the council the right to grant street 
railway franchises, he would think a long time before he 
would put down his finger. And yet some 24 pages of 
the book of ordinances of the city are devoted to street 
railway franchises, and some of the most valuable prop¬ 
erty rights within the city limits have been created in 
this way. At the most, the power to grant street railway 
franchises, and for that matter other franchises, is an 
implied power under the charter. Title III., Sec. 10, 


[543] A GOOD CITY CHARTER. 195 

subhead 57, gives the council power “to regulate and 
license” telephone, telegraph, electric lighting and gas 
companies, and to prescribe rules for the regulation 
thereof. Section 8, same title, provides that final passage 
of an ordinance granting a franchise shall require 13 
votes. The Mayor can, of course, veto a franchise ordi¬ 
nance and force its passage by a two-thirds vote of all 
the aldermen then in office. 

It is submitted that these are decidedly meager pro¬ 
visions and safeguards to surround such an important 
matter as the granting of franchises. Even the period 
for which franchises may be granted is not fixed by our 
charter. The constitutional limit of 30 years set to the 
creation of corporations excepts “municipal purposes” 
from its provisions—whatever that may mean. By the 
terms of the act under which street railways are incor¬ 
porated, the limit of their charter is fixed at 30 years; 
but it may be doubted whether even under this provision 
the council may not grant a street railway franchise for 
50 or 100 years. It is not clear that franchises may not 
be granted such a corporation for a longer period than 
the statutory period of its organization, since the fran¬ 
chise and the charter of incorporation are not one and 
the same thing. 

Recently some very excellent work in charter draft¬ 
ing has been done by a Citizen’s Committee of the city 
of Portland, Oregon, and some of the very best work 
done by this committee touches this matter of public util¬ 
ity franchises. In the new Portland charter, it is declared 
that the title of Portland to the public, and used streets 
is inalienable. This in itself is kn exceedingly wise pro¬ 
vision, for it places it beyond the power of the council to 
permit the beginning of an occupancy by an abutting 
owner which may by prescription ripen into a title in 
him. In Michigan the council may permit an owner to 
encroach upon the street, and after a certain number of 


196 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [544] 

years the owner can by prescription acquire indefeasible 
rights in the public highways. In my judgment no 
such power should be lodged in £ny legislative or other 
body, and the Legislature of the State could do the pub¬ 
lic no better service than to pass a statute declaring that 
the right of the public in the streets shall be inalienable, 
and that no length of occupancy on the part of a private 
owner shall mature into any claim of title. 

The Portland council is given power subject to 
charter limitations, to grant for a specified and limited 
time franchises in the streets. Every such franchise must 
specifically set forth and define the value, extent and dur¬ 
ation of the rights therein granted. No franchise or 
rights shall pass by implication, and the right to regulate 
reasonably in the public interest the exercise of such fran¬ 
chise cannot be divested by the council by the granting 
or acceptance of a franchise. No franchise can be granted 
for more than twenty-five years, nor can any franchise 
be granted without fair compensation to the city. The 
Grand Rapids charter provides that the council in grant¬ 
ing a franchise may reserve the right to impose and col¬ 
lect reasonable annual license fees, levied by any method 
except a percentage of the grantee’s gross receipts, and 
not exceeding in any year 5 per cent, of such receipts. 
This provision sounds very much as though the council 
in one line was given power to reserve an annual license 
fee, and in the next line was told that it could not reserve 
such a fee. 

The Portland provision is far better, and some such 
clear power should be imposed in the hands of every 
franchise-granting body. In Portland the ordinance 
granting the franchise must be published in full at least 
twice, and such publication shall take place not less than 
twenty, nor more than ninety days before its final pas¬ 
sage. The ordinance must receive the affirmative vote of 
at least two-thirds of all the members of the council, and 


[ 545 ] 


A GOOD CITY CHARTER. 


197 


the Mayor must approve it before it is valid for any pur¬ 
pose. In case the Mayor vetoes the ordinance, it can only 
be passed over such veto by a four-fifths vote of all the 
members of the council. No ordinance of this kind can 
be put on its final passage within sixty days of its intro¬ 
duction, and no franchise can be granted which shall not 
by its terms go into effect within one year of its passage. 

The corporation holding a franchise granted by the 
city of Portland is compelled by the charter to make 
stated quarterly reports to the city clerk, containing an 
accurate summary of all receipts and expenditures, to¬ 
gether with a full statement of assets and debts, and also 
such other information as to the cost and profits of its 
business and its financial condition as the city clerk may 
require. A failure to file such report authorizes the city 
to declare the franchise forfeited, and the council is em¬ 
powered to punish such failure as a misdemeanor. 

The franchise itself is regarded as property, and is 
subject to taxation. This is an important clause, and 
should appear in every city charter, so that no question 
may be raised before assessing officers upon this impor¬ 
tant matter. By the provisions of the Portland charter 
a street railway is required to plank, pave, repave, repair 
or reconstruct, or otherwise improve, when directed by 
the council, any street through which its car lines pass, 
and the council may also require commercial railroads 
having tracks in streets to pave the streets from curb to 
curb. This last mentioned power does not now rest in 
Michigan city councils, as our Supreme Court holds that 
a railroad cannot be required to pay for the improvement 
of streets, laying of sewers, and other such improvements 
which are not of direct benefit to the railroad. 

In case of electric railways, the owner of the fran¬ 
chise must provide and put in use such appliances as will 
control and effectually retain such currents in their proper 
channels, so as to prevent injury by electrolysis, or other- 


198 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [546] 


wise, to pipes and other structures belonging to the city 
or other persons. This, too, is a wise and timely pro¬ 
vision. ^ 

Numerous other restrictions are set down by the Port¬ 
land charter framers. In fact, fifteen closely written 
pages are devoted to this subject, whereas in the Grand 
Rapids charter hardly more than that many lines are to 
be found bearing on this whole matter. Under our 
charter the council can turn over practically, without re¬ 
striction or limitation, franchise rights in the city streets. 
The franchise which Grand Rapids aldermen grants con¬ 
tains about all the limitations imposed upon the corpora¬ 
tion securing the public utility in question. To all intents 
and purposes the powers of the Grand Rapids Common 
Council to do as it pleases with public utilities are without 
limit. We may well learn a lesson from the Western 
city in this regard. 

Another provision of the Portland charter is vitally 
important, namely: If 15 per cent, of the electors of the 
city petition the council within fifteen days of the time 
a franchise is passed, asking that the ordinance be sub¬ 
mitted for approval or rejection to popular vote, it then 
does not become operative until it receives a majority of 
the votes cast thereon at the next election. This is an 
effective check against the Mayor and council selling out 
to franchise grabbers, and I believe that the franchise¬ 
granting power cannot safely be vested in a Common 
Council unless some such provision as this is found in 
the city charter. 

A still more interesting feature, and one which will 
be watched with the greatest interest—albeit the very 
fact of its existence is the greatest guarantee against the 
necessity of its use—is the elaborate provisions found in 
the Portland charter for the acquisition by the municipal¬ 
ity of any or all public utilities, in case the people of the 
city vote so to do. The council is given power to provide 


[547] 


A GOOD CITY CHABTEB . 


199 


for the acquisition, ownership, construction and mainten¬ 
ance of water works, gas works, electric light works, 
steam, water or electric power works, heating works, 
telephone lines, street railways, bridges and ferries, and 
“such other public utilities as the council may designate,” 
but this cannot be done unless the people vote favorably 
on the question. The provision applies both to the orig¬ 
ination of any such public utility, and also to the assump¬ 
tion of the franchise of any public service corporation 
after the expiration of the term for which its franchise 
runs. The proposal that the city take over such fran¬ 
chise may originate with the council, the Mayor, or under 
a petition of 15 per cent, of the electors. No franchise 
can be granted in the first instance unless it provides that 
at the expiration of its term the city, at its election, and 
upon a payment of a fair valuation, to be fixed by arbi¬ 
tration, may purchase and take over the property and 
plant of the grantee. The value of the franchise is not 
to be considered in fixing such valuation, as that belongs 
to the people. 

Provision is made for the operation of such public 
utilities thus acquired by the city, or for the leasing 
thereof to another corporation, in case the city concludes 
not to operate the same itself. 

However, before a Michigan city can take over a 
street railway, it will be necessary to amend the Consti¬ 
tution of the State. Article XIV, Sec. 9, provides that 
“the State shall not be a party to, or interested in, any 
work of internal improvement, nor engaged in carrying 
on any such work,” and our Supreme Court has held in 
the famous case of Attorney General vs. Pingree 1 , that 
this section prohibits a city from acquiring, maintaining 
or operating a system of street railways. The court says 
that the act which sought to authorize a commission to 


1 i 20 Mich. 550 . 



200 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [548] 

acquire and operate the Detroit street railways, mapped 
out a work of sufficient importance to be classed as an 
internal improvement under the constitutional clause, 
and that the Legislature had not the power to authorize 
a municipality to do what the State could not do itself. 

It is pointed out in the decision that the only remedy 
is an amendment to the Constitution excepting municipal 
ownership of street railways from the operation of this 
section. Times have greatly changed since 1850, when 
this provision was incorporated in our fundamental law. 
Then the State was just recovering from the disasters 
attendant upon the panic of 1837—a panic brought about 
in large measure by a spasm of railroad and canal build¬ 
ing under State auspices. In consequence our State treas¬ 
ury had been practically bankrupt by the many schemes 
of internal improvement log-rolled through the Legisla¬ 
ture, and with these bitter experiences fresh in mind 
when the people framed the Constitution in 1850, they 
determined to put it out of the power of the Legislature 
again to involve the State in extravagant schemes of this 
kind. While the five million of debt saddled on the State 
in those early days by these various schemes of internal 
improvement seemed at the time foolish extravagance, 
it must not be forgotten that the plans thus inaugurated— 
especially the three lines of railway across the State and 
the Sault Ste. Marie ship canal—were the very steps 
which made possible the subsequent tremendous develop¬ 
ment of the State. We would not have the outcome dif¬ 
ferent if we could. When the amendment was adopted, 
street railways were not thought of—much less the pres¬ 
ent-day systems of trolley roads. Then aldermen had not 
been tempted to sell out valuable privileges in the streets 
at the behest of unscrupulous promoters. If cities like 
New York can engage in tremendous transportation un¬ 
dertakings with safety and advantage to their citizens, 
why cannot the cities of Michigan be trusted with this 


[549] 


A GOOD CITY CHABTEB. 


201 


power, especially since, at most, it is a mere local interest 
in which the inhabitants of the particular city alone are 
interested ? 

I am not yet clear whether street railways can advan¬ 
tageously be owned and operated by municipalities. I 
can hardly get the consent of my mind to a more ad¬ 
vanced position than that the municipality should con¬ 
struct and then contract, or lease for a limited number of 
years, to private parties the privilege of operating some¬ 
thing after the plan adopted in New York. But the ques¬ 
tion of municipal ownership and operation is not what I 
am urging. I do believe, however, that our Constitution 
should be so amended as to permit a municipality to take 
over, own, operate, or lease the street railways within its 
corporate limits. Then leave the question whether this 
shall be done to a vote of the people of the city. Such 
a reservation of power on the part of the city would go a 
long way towards solving the franchise problem. If the 
street railway companies knew that the exacting of exhor- 
bitant charges and other unfair treatment of the people 
would endanger their franchises, or if the people knew 
that in case their aldermen were bought up by unscrupu¬ 
lous railroad officials, they could nullify their action by 
holding up a franchise, after the manner provided in the 
Portland charter, we would be in a fair way of finding a 
practical solution of a perplexing question. 

STREET IMPROVEMENTS. 

Scarcely less important than the power of granting 
franchises is the power of compelling the improvement 
of streets. This prerogative is usually placed in the hands 
of the council and, in my judgment, that is where it 
belongs. It is well that so great a power be carefully 
circumscribed by the city charter. In Grand Rapids, if 
the improvement is not petitioned for by a majority of 
the foot frontage, the improvement cannot be ordered 


202 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [550] 


unless twenty out of the twenty-four aldermen vote in 
favor of it. If a majority petition for the improvement, 
then a majority vote of the cquncil can order it. We 
have also adopted the five-year plan of paying for these 
improvements, the council being given authority to issue 
street improvement bonds in an amount not exceeding 
two hundred thousand dollars in any one year. This 
plan spreads the payment for the improvement over five 
years at a low rate of interest, and it is now almost invari¬ 
ably adopted in making street improvements. The chief 
criticism of the Grand Rapids charter provisions upon 
this subject is, that no limit is set for the number of 
improvements in any particular street that may be 
ordered by the council. In other words, when one pave¬ 
ment wears out, the abutting property is compelled to 
pay for it again. 

The new Portland charter is instructive upon this 
subject. It contains some novel, and for the most part 
commendable, regulations on the subject of improving 
streets. The Portland charter revisionists intended that 
no resident of a street which the council wishes to im¬ 
prove shall be taken unaware. A resolution of the coun¬ 
cil declaring its purpose to improve a street must be pub¬ 
lished for ten consecutive publications in the official news¬ 
paper. Furthermore, the city engineer must within five 
days of the first publication, cause to be conspicuously 
posted at each end of the line of the contemplated im¬ 
provement a notice headed, “Notice of Street Work,” in 
letters not less than one inch in length, containing in 
legible characters a copy of the resolution. If within 
twenty days of the first publication of said resolution the 
owners of two-thirds or more in area of the property 
within the proposed assessment district make and file 
with the clerk a written remonstrance against the im¬ 
provement, such remonstrance is made a bar against 
further proceedings for the space of six months, unless 


[551] 


A GOOD CITY CHARTER 


203 


the owners of one-half or more of the property affected 
shall subsequently petition therefor. If no valid remon¬ 
strance is made, the council may, within three months 
from the final publication, by ordinance, provide for 
making said improvement. 

The Portland charter recognizes the injustice of com¬ 
pelling the abutting property owners to pay for subse¬ 
quent repairs of a street after a pavement is once laid. 
It is clear that the general public gets the bulk of the 
benefit of the improvement, and so in a large measure 
the whole city should pay for the maintenance of the 
street after the property owners have recouped the city 
for the increase in the value of their property, due to the 
original laying of the pavement. Accordingly, the coun¬ 
cil is given power to classify the various kinds of street 
improvement between the curb line of streets, and deter¬ 
mine the number of years for which each class of im¬ 
provement shall be maintained by the city at large after 
the same has been originally made. The class of every 
improvement, and the number of years for which it shall 
be maintained by the city, must be stated in each resolu¬ 
tion providing for an improvement. Then, when such 
improvement is made, the city must maintain and keep 
in repair all the roadway between the curbs, except the 
portion which railroad or street railway companies are 
liable to maintain, for the full number of years stated in 
the ordinance, and the cost thereof shall be paid out of 
the “Street Repair Fund.” 

It is clearly injustice to compel the abutting property 
owners to maintain year after year a pavement which 
is worn out by the general traffic of the city. At the 
same time, a hard and fast rule which obliges the city to 
maintain forever after a pavement once paid for by the 
abutting property owners, might work a comparative in¬ 
justice between the owners of property abutting on resi¬ 
dence streets as compared to business streets. The Port- 


204 MICHIGAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. [552] 

land plan of requiring the council to fix the number of 
years during which the city must maintain pavements 
seems to be calculated to furnish the requisite elasticity 
in this regard. Certain it is that a power which, as in 
the case of Grand Rapids, permits the council to raise by 
special assessment for street improvements on the five- 
year plan, a sum equivalent to two dollars per capita for 
every man, woman and child in the city (to say nothing 
of the further power of ordering the pavement of streets 
on the immediate payment plan), is a power that should 
be circumscribed and limited by carefully drawn charter 
regulations. An improvident council could easily bank¬ 
rupt a city in a single year by adopting a policy of imme¬ 
diate and universal street improvements. 

After all is said the truth is that no scheme or plan 
of municipal government is good unless good men are 
selected to run it. The poet was right when he declared: 

"For forms of govenment let fools contest, 

What’s best administered is best.” 

The great problem is to get good men in office. If 
this cannot be done by increasing the honor and dignity 
of municipal offices, then let us make it a state’s prison 
offense for any man to refuse any municipal office which 
the citizens of the city elect him to. Moreover, we should 
shape laws so that all citizens will attend the primaries 
and vote on election day. Chicago has a plan of selecting 
jurors only from those freeholders who refrained from 
voting at the last election. If a man can show that he 
voted at the last election he is excused from jury duty. 
I am not sure, but a better plan would be that suggested 
by an acquaintance of mine, who has had the chance to 
observe the workings of municipal politics in many cities 
of the country. He would have an extra assessment of 
$10 collected from every taxpayer who cannot produce 
a certificate that he attended the last primary of his party, 
and also voted at the last election. 








































LB JL DS 


PUBLICATIONS 

OF THE 


Michigan Political Science 
Association 


VOL. V. NO. 4. MARCH, 1904 


CONTENTS 

MUNICIPAL PROBLEMS IN MICHIGAN 


Papers and Discussions at the Joint Meeting of 
the Michigan Political Science Association and 
the League of Michigan Municipalities 
held at Ann Arbor, February 11-12, 1904 


PRICE, ONE DOLLAR 






PRESIDENT 

Roger W. Butterfield, - - - Grand Rapids 

VICE=PRESIDENTS 

John Davis ------ Detroit 

James E. Mitchell, ----- Alma 

SECRETARY 

John A. Fairlie, ----- Ann Arbor 


TREASURER 

Charles H. Cooley, ----- Ann Arbor 
flEHBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE COflfllTTEE 


W. M. Burke, 

S. D. Callender, 
Edward D. Jones, 


Albion 
Detroit 
Ann Arbor 


\ 


EXTRACT FROM THE CONSTITUTION RELATING 

TO MEMBERSHIP 

ARTICLE IV. 

Sec. x. Any person may become a member of this Association on the nomina¬ 
tion of a member and the approval of the Executive Committee. 

Sec. 2.* The regular membership fee shall be $2.00, payable on or before the 
annual meeting of each year, but by the payment of $25.00 at any one time a mem¬ 
ber may become a life member of the Association, and thereafter shall be exempt 
from all regular membership fees. 

The annual membership fee for college students shall be $1.00. 

For further information address, 

JOHN A. FAIRLIE, Secretary, 

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 





LIST OF PUBLICATIONS 

VOL. 1. 

No. i. May, 1893. Contents: State Bank Issues in Michigan— 
a Retrospect of Legislation, Thomas M. Cooley. A Sketch of the 
Origin, Establishment and Working of the National Banking System 
with special reference to Issues , Dwight B. Waldo. Federal Taxa¬ 
tion of State Bank Issues, Thomas M. Cooley. Bank-Note Circula¬ 
tion, Theodore C. Sherwood. President’s Address, Edward Cahill. 
Should United States Senators be Elected by the People ? T. E. 
Barkworth. The Interstate Commerce Act—Its Purpose, Partial 
Failure and Reason: with suggestions for Improving it, E. IV. Med - 
daugh. The Interstate Commerce Act from the Shipper’s Stand¬ 
point, James T. Shaw. Price, 50 Cents. 

No. 2. May, 1894. Contents: Penological Hints, L. C. Storrs> 
Dissatisfaction with the Senate, Alfred Russell. Suggestions for a 
System of Taxation, Henry C. Adams. The Relation of the Church 
to Political and Social Science, A. Gaylord Slocum. The Province 
of Agricultural Colleges, L. G. Gorton. President’s Address: Cor¬ 
porations in Michigan, Alfred Russell. Publicity and Corporate 
Abuses, Henry C. Adams. Eminent Domain: Its growth and Lim¬ 
itations, T. E. Barkworth. Alien Suffrage, Henry A. Chaney. 
Price, 50 Cents. 

No. 3. December, 1894. Contents: Uniform Legislation by the 
Several States, S. M. Cutcheon. Census Bulletin No. 48 of 1891, 
Alfred Russell. A National Reserve for the Exigency of War,/. 
Sionner Rogers. Competion and Organization, Charles H. Cooley. 
Corporations in the Light of History, fohn P. Davis. Suggestions 
for the Amendment of the Laws Governing Corporations in the State 
of Michigan,/#y P. Lee. Price, 25 Cents. 

No. 4. April, 1895. Contents: Legal Education: Its Relation to 
the People and the State, H. B. Hutchins. Local Self Government, 
so-called, as it is found in the Constitution- of Michigan, Otto Kirch - 
ner. Social Evolution, by Benjamin Kidd—A Critical Review, Wil- 
liam Prall. Incongruity of the Divorce Laws of the United States— 
A Legal Tangle, fohn C. Richberg. Price, 25 Cents. 

No. 5. British Rule in Central America, or a sketch of Mosquito 
History, Ira D. Travis. Price, 25 Cents. 

No. 6. December, 1895. Contents: City Government of Mich¬ 
igan. Some Remarks Upon the Government of Municipalities Sug¬ 
gested by the Experience, Growth and Development of the City of 
Grand Rapids, John W. Champlin. City Government in Kalamazoo, 
Dallas Boudeman. City Government in 'Jackson, IV. H. Withington. 
City Government in Saginaw, Wm. L. Webber. City Government in 
Detroit, Charles A. Kent. Price, 25 Cents. 

VOL. II. 

No. 1. Do We Want an Elastic Currency ? F.M. Taylor t Ph. D. 
Price, 25 Cents. 

No. 2. The Southern and Western Boundaries of Michigan. 
Anna May Soule , M. L. (Out of Print) Price, 75 Cents. 

No. 3. The Real Monroe Doctrine, B. A. Hinsdale. The United 
States and the Peace of the World, Edward Cahill. Price 25 Cents. 


Xc. u. Mnnkizni Government in Turrte T'xuUz*rr J^zJLitk. 
State Snrervisfln or Cites jz ’. TV G r z Prioe. 15 Cents. 

N\. 5. Tie Xis-ccverers c: Luke 5 crtrier. C'rsGz: JCeuru. 

N: :, .Agricnimnl Degression in the United States, A. 
Court?. Price' 5 c Cents. 

Xe * Industria. Piosrerity and the Means for Bringing it 
About President's Address Jzhx -T. <T ; err/Libor tn Rela- 
tirn t: the Prodnctksn r: ^ ei.tn, ■ Tint A 'Vhh Prise. 35 Cents 
Xc. 5 . Lne rnf.tr Bhert the Ordinance c: :~t“ h Hr U. 
Afrtihr T L. Prire 50 Cents. 

Xc. c . ne Relation of Corpc rations to the State. L Lint-; L. 
TVu./r Frits : 5 Cents. 

VOL, III. 

Xu The His: try of Snrrage in Michigan 5: tires -L" 
Jz:zz A .uu u P<.JA Price, ft Cents 

No. r. Tie Frtnlar Initiative inf Teierendnnt te tires B. 
-V. Bj Price. 15 Cents 

Xc. 3 infeternt nite Sentence :* tires Lrz: L. Tr-uu. . 
Price. 25 Certs 

Nil Une V.ne Inlrsrry in Michigan 17 tires .fhL'' 
TV. "anITu-rm Prtre. :: Cents 

X: 5 Tie Crtter Industry cf Xcrthem Ufrhirm :: tires 
J. y, ' '■ ~-:f IPrice. : c Cette 

X:. f. Tie i inn: Inf usury cf Xrrtdem Mich "gin :t tires 
A'Z;~ TV :.v. Prtre. :r Cents. 

Xc. 7. -Agriculture in Michigan A Shetrh _t tires F.z~ 
•f.tnrr Mid Price. 5: Cetts. 

X: : Tite History cf the Clayton- 3 nl*-er Treity -it tires 
with tut u In L>. Trvzi; Price. 5 : rc. 

VOL. IV. 

Xr. : An Historical Sketch of Interns. Inert: etnents in Mich¬ 
igan ityf-iS.t H tires Azixz: i T t.C .-IV:' : JV. T Prttc. 50 
Certs 

X:. t Tie Siit Industry in Mi tin ran :r tires T G. TVr- 
grv_-. Prtte. if Cents. 

Xt. y. Methods of Keening the Pnblfr Money cf the Unites 
rtates itc tages .VI T I: ..." H I T Prtre S: 00. 

Nc. u tixitirn in Michigan in: L-sev here ~c rires Prtre. 
5: Cents, 

Xc. 3. The Icwn Loir: ;f Centre. A -Centralized Svren cf 
Aininlstrarscr far rtate institnhens rf tires Hz^-zid AT Tun - 

won. Price, nr Certs 

Xr r. Bocal rrr-hietns g: the Cimter 151 tires Piters 
reit it tne xdn* tree: nr ot tut Michigan 1 o.ricai Science Assora- 
ticn i:i the Mich.ran --aimers Institutes Prtre. 5: rc 

VOL. V. 

Xr. 1. The Territorial Tan hern aritn t: Michigan _f t: res 
AT?rgtxecu A. ou/u *>r. Prate. 50 Cents. 

Xc t H Tier Commercial Lit rattan etc t-iges Pat-ers react 

a: the ccnvenhrn of t_LL 1 I li.Lc'St ZItL I7, “ uJLItT ~U 

auspices ci the Michigan rc Tea. Sri ante Assort ati ten Pr.tt- S: tc. 

Xc 3. jn-renle Offenders n the C ry cf let-tit hr oares . 
PSzhard A:. Lzl: Prtre 5c Cents. 


Cti--s Hr ru u: :-! £■" tit re sHireEsec 10 C=.-tails H CoGLFT 
.-eatrue* An Artur 



























































































































































































































































































































































































































































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